Hi,

I've a friend who's just finished her first year of a PhD in the UK, funded by a large multi-national. She's an overseas student, and was given an offer from the university, stating that she was being given a "research bursary" for her tuition fees only for up to three years "contingent on satisfactory academic progress", but her supervisor made it clear that the funding was coming from this company, and she had to give regular reports on her progress to them.

Anyway, the company has since become disillusioned with the project and has refused to pay her supervisor for the second year of funding, which according to her supervisor, may force her to abandon her PhD. However, this company was not even mentioned in her original funding offer letter from the university department, and an offer for 3 years of funding was made quite clear. She has made fair academic progress in the past year, and this has not (yet) been disputed by her supervisor.

Something feels a little off about this situation. Are there any channels of inquiry she can follow about what the funding arrangements were? Anywhere she can look for alternative funding, this late in the academic year, not being an EU student? Is the university obliged to keep the word given in the original offer letter? Is there any standard arrangement that has to be followed for an industry-sponsored PhD in the UK, that she can use to her advantage?

Thanks all in advance.

Did she sign any sort of contract? If so, it might be very worth while reading it carefully to see if there are any clauses covering this situation. From what you say though above, if there's nothing else she's signed, it sounds like your friend might have a pretty good case for making the university continue to fund her by threatening breach of contract. It sounds like she needs some legal advice fast. Is there any sort of student advice centre in your students' union? Or a legal clinic connected to a Law department? It would be good to see if she could get some help from someone qualified to work through all the paperwork she has, to figure out where she stands. THe Citizens Advice bureau can also be a useful contact.
Has she got a first year review pending? If so, because of the proviso of acceptable academic progress, it might be wise to make sure she's registered her concerns with someone outside the department beforehand. One possible way to do this might be to contact the international Office and say she's concerned about her visa situation given this situation.