b*******! How dare they? I think you should buy some crayons and draw all over their precious bloody book. Then put some nice colourful pictures on your thesis. Flowers maybe. Or a little kitten. and a smily face. That can be the originality bit.

Hi all
Thanks for your messages of support and advice. This does seem to be a fairly common problem across universities, not just my own. I obviously do not want to do anything that will adversely effect my career, but even my supervisor believes we seem to have exhausted all options re: negotiating with the school management.
The Director of Graduate Studies has been informed, and we're waiting to see how he responds before anything else happens.

There was another person at the meeting, and a number of emails have been exchanged formally stating the problems. Other staff are involved and have been kept in the loop.

The issues have been raised formally, but no-one is willing to do anything.

Thanks for the suggestion. We had a very calm meeting with the Head of School who thanked us for being reasonable and said he'd take action. But as soon as an issue arose, he just said "I'll make a note of it". This is constantly recurring, our supervisors are also tired of it and regularly have to have the same conversations over and over again.

Hello...
Just a quick email to ask your opinions. At my uni a lot of PhDs are funded by a teaching assistantship. We don't have contracts but the university has a policy in place to ensure that we only undertake certain duties. The school in which I work effectively ignores the policy document and expects us to do more work/gives us inappropriate teaching. We have had meetings with the Head of School but he makes promises then takes no action.
I'm going on strike - what do you all think??

One of the academics at my uni reckons libraries or art galleries - to be honest I'd be impressed in that case - and you'd probably have something to talk about. One of the English PhDs here met a girl in the library last summer and is about to get married to her.

In the UK a masters in International Relations would not be an MBA, but an MA, MSc or MRes.
Among the best places are Manchester, Aberystwyth, Lancaster, Exeter. (Keele, Birmingham, Leeds and Sheffield also have good reputations).
It completely depends upon what aspect of IR you intend to study. Many of the best places will be particularly theoretical

As far as my friend's experiences go, yes, its a mixture of student and supervisor who decides. (One supervisor rejected an option because every time she heard this guy's name she burst into a fit of giggles).
What you need to remember is the quality of the external effects how your PhD is perceived - I have always been told to pick the best name I could, even if they can only comment on part of the PhD. You'll probably use them as a reference so a big name might be better.

Hi Strawberry_s
The course may be offered in unis over here, but if it is not available to UK students, we wouldn't be told about it would we? Ergo, we wouldn't know about it.

I teach as well as do a PhD, and I strongly recommend you do the pre-Masters. When international students do badly it is not usually because they don't understand or have low ability, it is because they don't have the skills to express themselves academically in English. Maybe you should consider it - it can only help your MA when you go on to do one.

hi strawberry_s

I just did a very quick search on google for Pre-Masters, and yes, they are, I quote:
"designed for students who wish to enter any Post-Graduate Masters programme in the UK but do not have the necessary level of English language proficiency. It is primarily an English language skills development course which will prepare students for the language demands and methodology of a postgraduate degree."

It sounds like they are preparing you for the academic language and terminoly you would need to use as a UK postgrad. I had never heard of a pre-masters until you mentioned it, but why would UK students know about courses that are designed for non-native english speakers?!

Of course you can apply for lectureships straight away, but chances are you will get a temporary rather than permanent position, and it probably won't be at the Uni of your dreams either. You might only get part-time too.
I know people who have got lectureships before submission, as soon as their 3 year registration was up. It was at a pretty good uni, and they didn't have publications either

What universities do you all go to that are staffed by such weirdos. At the last staff party I went to, one of the historians old us about a book he wants to write on typologies of German Women (the 'solidly-built' ones were favourite), then he tried to organise a 'mind-broadening weekend to one of his 'special' clubs in London.
Another staff member was hideously drunk and talking about the sub-plots of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Her friend was ranting on about the rights and wrongs of peep-toe shoes, someone was
discussing which members of staff have a reputation for liking bondage, which of the mad old women in the office you'd least like to shag (one of them always invites young men to the basement to show them things).
The most heated debate of the evening was how far, and in what style, you can swim whilst smoking a cigar.

The funding cuts apply to standard undergrad funding for those doing a second undergrad degree only. They have no bearing on PG courses

Hi - I'm not in engineering but I've managed to part-fund a very expensive conference trip (to the US for a week) with a mixture of money from my research institute, and from the conference itself. But you supervisor is right - it always looks better if you can get funding from external sources. For example, if you are funded by one of the research councils, they normally offer certain additional funding for travel. I also use (although not sure this applies in your case!!!) the Federation of Women Graduates.

B2go. Not sure whereabouts in the country you are, or whether or not you'd be willing to move but I know a couple of unis that offer funding for IR PhDs that are conditional on teaching undergrads for a few hours a week - and they insist on teaching experience. Try Birmingham and Salford. Salford have already adverstised and the deadline's pretty early, but they offer a lot more money!