Dear All,

I am a phd student in my second year and am doing my phd under a scholarship where I receive a subsistence stipend. I have finished all my coursework and have successfully presented my research proposal to the committee. However, the committee has assigned me a supervisor that I was not so passionate to work with. I complained to my Head of Department whereby he said that in order to change my supervisor, I had to have a "reasonable cause." I would like to know how common/uncommon my situation is and how how much rights should a phd student have in choosing the supervisor? Does receiving scholarship from the university make a difference, in other words because the university is paying me, do I have to follow along with what I am given/told?

If they said you need reasonable cause, then you need reasonable cause. Being not so passionate to work with someone is not reasonable cause. Why don't you want to work with this supervisor? I don't think you have to follow what they tell you just because they are funding you, but it's best to do what they say if it's not that unreasonable, because ruffling feathers is not going to help you on your academic journey.