What are your needs as a PhD international student and what do you think your unviersity could do to make things better/easier for you? What are the problems you've encountered, if any?

Need to know all about your experiences (trying to get a job in international PhD student support and so want to know how you feel). All help very much appreciated!

Do you mean just students from outside the UK or "international" students as most universities understand it (ie excluding EU citizens)? I would be glad to help you (well I could only help you in regard to the admission process/registration/induction as I've just started) but I'm EU and I don't know if I qualify.

Hi Kitten,

I haven't encountered any problems withe the university, that were caused by being an EU student (besides the fact that they always misspell my name thanks to an Umlaut in it).

Problems were: opening a bank account (still haven't got an overdraft), finding a gurantor to be able to rent a room.

Basically I'm applying for a job organising/publicising training and support for international PhD students (including EU). I need to show an understanding of issues relating to 'international' and 'eu' students and wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about!

Any problems gaining the training you need for a PhD? What sort of training would you be interested in?

Artist formally known as Mia,

I am a UK/home student but when I did my MA all my best course buddies were international students & the comment above about bank accounts rings v. true. My arab friend from Saudi had a nightmare trying to get a bank account & had to get a letter from the Uni, she also had to register with the local police!?
Also one other girl from Africa had terrible trouble getting a job despite being an aid to a senior Gov minister in her own country she ended up doing cleaning. It was a lot to do with understanding how to communicate her resume and exactly where to look for jobs etc..I think

Not sure if this is helpful or just ancedotal - but ther you go.

As said before I can only comment on the admissions and induction procedure. Well, I really cannot complain about anything. All the universities I applied to answered to my mails very quickly and were very friendly (both the academic and administration staff). The induction sessions offered by my university about academic matters/ everyday life/ accomodation etc were also very helpful (specially compared with those in Spain, my home country, or Italy, where I did my year abroad - induction sessions were almost nonexistant).

In the admissions process, maybe some more information about the British system and its qualifications would be helpful. Sometimes the same department offers a MA, a MSc and a MPhil and it's not easy to know which will be better for your purposes. The information contained in the departmental websites is designed primarily for home students, but some things are not that easy to understand if you come from a different system.

I also think that the admissions office/ departments should try to assess better the qualifications of international applicants. For example, in Spain many BAs and BScs last not 3 years but 5. In despite of having a 5-year BA (well, in fact 2) and having taken research-related courses while studying it, some universities I contacted insisted that I should study a MA before starting a PhD (so I would have studied for 6 years before the PhD, while home students would have studied during 3 or 4 years only). In my opinion the universities should examine individually the degree requirements and the preparation of applicants with foreign qualifications and not simply assume that a Spanish, Italian, German or American BA is the same thing as a British BA.

Thanks - this is all really helpful stuff!