congratulations sue! well done! i'd say that piece of news deserves more than a short note in the "last post wins" thread...

hi to all newbies, welcome from me too!

and happy new year to everyone else!

myself, i'm swiss/english, currently in london. one of my best friends and PhD colleagues is canadian and i'm hoping to visit her over there some time

the research councils, worried about having to pay some money to other EU nationals, introduced this requirement to avoid other EU nationals en masse being able to claim funding. at the same time they created bureaucratic difficulties because OF COURSE they did not mean to make brits who went abroad for a while uneligible, so they had to include lots of complicated exceptions. are you paying "home" fees (rather than "home/EU","overseas")? then you should be eligible. the intention of the rulings is clearly that you should be eligible. the wording is less clear. you need to talk to the registrar at your uni. explain your situation in detail (from when to when you were in Britain, when you were abroad, for how long, with what intentions, do you have family in Britain, did they stay when you left, is the rest of your family also British & in Britain, etc). there is no general way to find out - just your particular case which you need to make.

what i am saying is, you take time off for YOU to feel better and for your PhD to be more efficient in the long run, not primarily for your partner.
of course sometimes you will have to work evenings/weekends. if you usually keep work-free partner times, then such occasional breaches shouldn't be a problem and i'd expect anyone - academic background or not - to understand and respect that.

my partner is also an academic, just finishing his PhD. i think it is not necessarily a problem of non-academics not understanding the commitment involved in a PhD. although i am doing one myself, i sometimes get upset when my partner wants to spend yet another weekend, yet another evening working. there has got to be some time for US, too, no?
i understand the commitment it takes. i just think some people would probably work better if they took more time off. my advice is thus not in the line of insisting your partner to grant you more time for work, but rather to allow yourself time off work (and with your partner) EVEN WHEN you did not work as much as you would have liked during your "work time". that's the only way to break the viscious circle of catch-up work, being tired (from too much work), not working efficiently, feeling bad about it, falling further behind, having to do more catch-up work, feeling bad about that too. i think.

hey olivia, i moved to the UK to start my PhD, leaving a real home (long term "cohabitating" partner, lots of friends) and a reasonably good job behind. here is the advice people gave me, and which i found to work in my case:
- take something, can be small, with you that will let you make your room your home. something that will make it YOURS rather than a random room with hotel-feeling, and which gives you a feeling of home. i had a small music box, a metal cat figure, and some pictures and postcards. i stuck them up on the walls the very first day after i arrived.
- skype, with webcam. ok another VOIP service will do too - but free endless videocalls with my partner kept the relationship alive. and it's easy to keep in touch with others, too.

BHC, i see your point but i think the problem lies mainly in the universities' admissions decisions, rather than in international students, self-funding, buying themselves in.

i think universities should either only accept students who have enough funds to complete their studies (from a funder, or privately) in the given time, OR else indeed make sure those underfunded students they do accept, get "preferential treatment" so as that they can complete in time. what's the point in accepting underfunded students and then letting them fail (because they can't afford to do all that it takes to do a PhD)? That's lose-lose, far from win-win.

i do indeed wonder at times, what international students pay all that money for.

also, not to be forgotten: many "overseas" students are native english speakers, whereas many "home/eu" students aren't.

brown hair, green-ish eyes, and concerning intro-/extrovert: i think the swiss side of my heritage is dominant on this account, as i am introvert when with strangers, but extrovert when with friends. they say that the swiss are hard to make friends with but once you are friends, you have very good friends. so that would fit.

umm... do you find cycling too dangerous? no? then i don't see why motorcycling should be. provided you do it with sense. some motorcyclists out there seem very intent on becoming organ donors...

but i have some doubts from the ecological point of view. did you consider getting a electro-motor assisted bike? such as a "flyer"? they are pretty cool, but leave your eco-conscience unblemished.

i'm leaving on the 16th (only few days to go!!!) and coming back on the 2nd. in the mean time, i will be moving a whole household across the channel, and marking 25 essays. hoping to cram some PhD work into the time, too.

Dear all,
I just gathered all my courage and called the foundation to ask about the results concerning my funding application. And the good news is, it has been approved! They reduced the funded period from the 18 months I had applied for, to 12 months, but I will probably be able to submit an extension application.
I am soooo happy and relieved! After a good year of using up my savings, and then going into debt, and writing endless unsuccessful funding applications, finally a good result. I feel like crying, I am so happy. Just wanted to share this with you all - now I am off to do some serious christmas shopping!!!

hi,
well i've done plenty of stuff outside of academia and am not very young anymore, and feel i have certainly gained something from those experiences which in some cases helps with the PhD. in other cases, it is tough because i am often "put back in place" and very much made to feel like a "student who has no idea of the real world NOR academia" regardless of my real background. so overall i would say, yes there are experiences you can benefit from for your PhD, but some things also make it harder, and for some things it just doesn't matter - it's hard no matter if you are young or old, have lots of experience or not.

now the case concerning your fee status might be a bit different. i strongly advise you to check out www.ukcosa.org.uk. they have the PRECISE information available there on this question. and you can call them if the information specific to your case is unclear.
British universities are bound by the rules as they are outlined by UKCOSA. And if UKCOSA says you should be paying home fees but the university wants to charge you overseas fees, UKCOSA will talk to your university for you. They did in my case and saved me from paying overseas fees... I had been arguing with the Uni for months, quoting their own regulations at them, but just being walled off. Then, one call from UKCOSA settled the question.
(my case is different from yours however as I had been living in Switzerland which, though it is not EU, has bilateral agreements with the EU making it equivalent to EU in terms of residency. But try getting that across to your uni officials!)

hey mike,
that's a tricky one. the parallel situation is concerning the funding through research councils. if you look at the details of the RC eligibility criteria, you will see:
- the clause "not for the main reason of full time education" does not apply to EU nationals. so it doesn't apply to you.
- they make some sort of allowance for "temporary absence". they do not really want to make British students uneligible for funding, and they do not want to make it impossible for Brits to go abroad for a while, due to them losing the chance for funding through this. so the RC all have a clause somewhere saying that if you left Britain temporarily but have kept relations to Britain strong and have never intended to leave forever, the temporary absence does not count.
that said, i have British citizenship myself and tried to argue temporary absence but this was rejected without any reasons given. i am sure they had good reasons but would have liked to know...

hey,
if you are eligible for ORS awards, you are generally not eligible for MRC etc.

as you have not been resident in the EU for the last three years you are not eligible for MRC/BBSRC funding.

you never know with the ORSA... just apply! it might very well work out. you never know if you don't try!