Hi, my professional background is as a Quantity Surveyor, however, I am aware of a lot of Quantity Surveyors who have moved into Project Management. 

So to answer the part of your query I feel I am most qualified to answer, which is should you undertake a P.M. masters, my advise is you certainly should. Your background in accountancy will be invaluable to you, given this close relationship to my construction orientated profession which forms a key part of Project Management. However, I would also advise you study in the university as apposed to distance learning and try and find a course which includes Construction Technology as core. Or equally one which would allow you to complete such modules as an associate student.

Good luck with it, if you want some advice on the best universities for this type of program drop me a message giving me your rough location and I will fire some recommendations back.

My final point is make sure your course is either RICS (preferably) or CIOB accredited as professional memberships are even more important than the degree in this industry as they prove you can walk the walk not just talk the talk.

Hi All

I am currently trying to advise a colleague who is considering a PhD. We are both presently employed at a predominately teaching based university, however both of us are young academics and have an interest in research. I am presently studying for my PhD at the leading university for our specific field, whereas my colleague can't decide between studying at our home university with a colleague as supervisor or studying externally as I have elected to do.

The issue most pertinent to this question is our employers policy on funding staff development. In terms of PhD funding, the policy states that if you wish to study for a PhD we will only fund such study if you register with our university.

So the query is, would you advise studying for your PhD:

1)Under the supervision of a colleague with whom you share an office, however, have your fees covered, or

2)At a different university which is more research orientated but you pay your own fees.

I hope you can understand why I have thrown this one out for discussion, I really don't feel that I am the right person to provide advise based on my limited experience.

Thanks

Hi Caddie

I completed my PG cert, when I took a job as a lecturer four years ago. Mine was entitled Further, Higher and Adult Education, yet my colleague is completing a similar course which is now entitled Teaching and Learning for Professional Practice. Even more strange, is the fact that other colleagues who are studying for their PG Cert's, will gain a qualification entitled Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.  What you have to remember is that all these are from the same university!

Therefore I would not worry to much about the title of the course, they all cover more or less the same material and will have been fully validated and mapped against national requirements.

As long as you have a PG Cert in Teaching (regardless of title) this will aid you employability in the sector with all universities now wanting new staff to have such qualifications.

Also before looking at distance learning, you need to be aware that some of the assessment for the course will be observation orientated, with your tutors coming to assess you in the classroom whilst you actually teach a class.

My advice is go for it, it appears they are meeting the fees and so it is a very useful qualification to take

Good Luck

Anthony

Like I say not all students are a problem I have some really excellent under graduates too. In terms of your work and the marking of it I have to agree with you.  As a senior lecturer I promise to at least give some generic feedback to ensure any significant issues are dealt with (as the majority of people make generic errors). Although I can relate to the problems your tutor outlines. I think sometimes students do unfairly suffer as a result of the large workloads given to academic staff to overcome the problems universities face with the stretched resources they have.

I hope you do manage to get some feedback from the tutor though as this is an important part of the learning experiance.

Hi Slowmo

As per the earlier comments, I also lecture in a post 92 university and experience a myriad of problems with my undergraduate students ranging for talking in the class to a blunt refusal to purchase essential texts to actually participate in the classes.

I have now come to the view that 75% of the students want to be spoon fed because the school system did this in the pursuit of results.

I have now adopted various approaches to deal with the problems I experience, in terms of talking in class, I just stop the lecture until they either finish or leave (I do give them the option to talk outside my classroom).  If they don't bring the required equipment I refuse to allow them into the class in the first instance and I set them homework in the form of reading, failure to read the required materials will reduce their ability to participate in the class and therefore impact on their ability to actually pass the module

Although this is a hard stance, I now have the respect on the students they don't talk in the classes and most will actually read the material I ask them to read, given this I am more than happy to deal with any questions they have within the timetabled tutorial sessions, although I often answer them with a question of my own, again this neutralises the attitude problems the student exhibit as they realise it will not have any effect.

In terms of e-mails I advise them at the start that I will not answer e-mails favouring the "peer support" process facilitated by the VLE - This really does work and allows me to post as I think I need to and puts the onus back on the group.

Hope this maybe helps?

I all heartedly agree with Bonzo.

Although I have not yet finished my PhD I have significant industry experience and two degrees for the university I am currently employed at as a Lecturer. I think accepting this contract is an excellent move, it will allow you to develop your experience and increase your publications. Both of which are the key to success in the employment market, the fact its all at one university does not make any difference. Many of my, more research orientated colleagues have been in your position in the past, the fact that several completed all their degrees and post doc' s at the same institution has not acted as any form of barrier. My Dean has always indicated that when interviewing he wants recent experience and recent publications, if you have this the whys and wherefores of how you developed your knowledge and gained your degrees is insignificant.

Sign the contract, its an excellent opportunity and don't worry about the rest. Good luck with it all. (up)

P.S. Just a final thought on the Universities who will not employ their own doctoral students. These organisations, are in my opinion, being very short sighted. They are investing time and possibly money developing a researcher who would be publishing and therefore making a contribution to the RAE / RAF for the centre. Then releasing the investment and the developing research profile to their competitors within the market place.

======= Date Modified 25 Aug 2009 12:12:05 =======
Hi, I was applying for a PhD, like your prospective supervisor, mine was a leader in the field and the university was the best in the country for my field of research.  The conversation went very well and yes he is now my supervisor and I start in September, studying part-time.



Don't worry to much about only having ideas, I entered the meeting with exactly that and came away with a topic which I could happily research and I know to be original. I then did some further reading and e-mailed him a proposal which he was more than happy with.



Good luck, and don't worry. (up)

Hi Cobweb

I have recently been in a similar situation, I had two meetings with prospective supervisors. Both meetings where in-formal and centred around my background, why I wanted to do a PhD, a general discussion of my research idea, how the university system worked, how often we would meet, their background and experience etc.  For both meetings all I only took a writing pad and pen with me.

I would not worry to much about taking a proposal with you, just ensure you jot down some of your ideas to talk around with the prospective supervisor, they will no doubt advise you of what a proposal should contain and how to write and structure it.

Good luck with the meeting and don't worry.

Just to give you an update, i have decided to withdraw from my current university and have commenced the process of enrolment at a more research driven university with a new supervisor who has 10+ completions and is regarded as an expert in my field of research.  From the initial meeting last week I have already received more guidance than I have in the last two years, although I have also made the radical decision of a fresh start with a new topic more related to my area of professional experience.

Thanks for the support and guidance
(up)

Hi,

I regularly supervise dissertations, mainly at undergraduate level, however, I can relate to the situation you have outlined. As a supervisor, when I get a strong student i am often reluctant to take them on and try to send them to the most experienced academics within the department only to ensure I don't let them down in the supervision and thus have a negative impact on grades.

I suspect that your first supervisor is trying to ensure you have the best possible supervisor to allow you excel in the dissertation as you have done in taught modules.  Unfortunately, however, maybe the supervisors she considers the strongest for you and your topic is, as is often the case with senior staff totally bogged down with work and also does not want to let you down.

I don't think for one minute either supervisor is implying your a bad students etc. I think she is saying your an excellent student and I don't want to spoil your chances. From experience the best students are the hardest to initially accept as you don't want to let them down, however, as I have just experienced, when you get over this initial fear, supervision of such people is an absolute pleasure and really makes the job worthwhile.

Have a chat with your original supervisor, I really don't think there is a problem, other than she wants the best possible outcome for you.

Us academics do actually care about students and want to get the best outcome we can for you. Hope this reassures you a little and gives you a view from the other side of the fence so to speak.

Thanks to all those who replied to this thread, it is great to know there are supportive people on here, who are happy to give advice.  After two sleepless nights and a lot of consideration I have decided to start again with a new topic (more related to my teaching and professional areas) and to undertake my studies in an external university, having set up some preliminary meetings with a couple of potential supervisors for next week.

Once again, thank you for the guidance, I was really down over the weekend and your support has been invaluable, I can't believe some people on this website (in another thread I read earlier) try and knife people in the back with some comment or other, when they are trying to give them advice. So thanks for not being discouraged and for replying to my thread it has really helped.

Thanks for the advice, I will take all that on board, it has been really useful. 

However, I forgot to mention one rather important point which maybe at the root of this?? I work in the same department and so working very closely with my supervisor who is also a colleague and with whom I team teach modules.  So I am in part wondering, if this situation is less than ideal, my supervisor did raise these concerns at the start and suggested alternative universities, but my then boss told me no.  However my new boss who also has a PhD has advised I consider this.

Do you think this maybe the problem is mixing these two completely separate roles (colleagues and then supervisor/student at other times)

Sorry I really should have mentioned this, but I needed to avoid it initially to see if this is the actual problem.

Once again, thanks for the advice it has so far been really helpful, as I realise that it might me the above rather than anything else, which is important.

Hi all

I am having some real concerns about my PhD at the moment, I have been studying for two years now (Part-time) and submitted a proposal for registration 14 months ago (which was finally sent to the postgraduate research student administrator three weeks ago by our head of research. Anyway I have in this time had maybe two meetings with my supervisor, with no goals set for me. A colleague of mine has recently started his PhD and meets with his supervisor every month and comes back with various goals and targets to achieve before the next meeting. At the moment I am feeling really disgruntled and de-motivated due to added difficulties of being diagnosed dyslexic into the bargain. I am at the moment considering either quitting or contacting my colleague's supervisor to see if he would accept me as a research student and ditching my current university and supervisor team.

I just need a bit of advice really - what would you recommend I do?

When I started by PhD the Dean who is the head of research degree's told us that publishing papers  before the submission of the PhD thesis and reference your own work in the thesis. he advised that this is a good way of ensuring original contribution element of the thesis can't really be contested at the viva as this element of the research has already been tested at the pre-publication stage of each paper by the review panel.

Can I ask guys, are you all writing chapters as you progress or have you waited until the end and now writing up