Campus Closure.

Avatar for LyndonShip

I am a student of the University of Liverpool, our London campus is expected to close down while we are still doing our PhD programmes here, has someone had a similar situation or does anyone have any advice?

Avatar for rewt

This happened at my uni, I am at the main branch and they closed the satellite branch. They set a cut off date and you either stayed until you finished or were moved to the other branch. Literally one day 15 PhD students turned up. I think something similar will happen with you, either you will stay or be expected to move. Though London to Liverpool is a big change and I would talk with your supervisor about their thoughts. They might not want to move and you could probably follow them.

Avatar for LyndonShip

Hi, it seems they're not planning to give us the luxury of finishing our PhD's here as the building will be reoccupied years before our courses end, was their a campaign to allow the PhD students to finish there?

Avatar for rewt

At our university they had the great idea of announcing the decision nearly 2 years in advance. So PhD students that were near completion could finish and newer ones got moved. What year of your PhD are you in?

Avatar for LyndonShip

I have done 8 months of the 4 year programme and they plan to close in about 10 months, some are further in than me while others have just started, which University were you at where this happened by the way?

Avatar for rewt

Have you talked with your supervisor(s) about the closure? They will be equally affected and will know a lot more about your options than us.

At my university the two campuses were relatively close (1 hour drive) and most people moved. Reportedly a few students moved to other universities with their supervisors but for the most part it was a good transition. There wasn't any campaign to stop the move as it was outside their control and most people just accepted it and tried to do the best for themselves.

Avatar for LyndonShip

Yeah, my supervisor says this will affect him more adversely than me, he actually suggested I use a forum to inquire where and how this has been dealt with in other Universities.

P

To be honest, I'm surprised that this situation doesn't happen more often as quite a few universities are flirting with financial disaster.

Unfortunately I would expect your supervisor is probably more worried about their own problems right
now so that response doesn't surprise me.

Does the funding belong to you or the university? You might be able to switch it to a new supervisor at another institute.

Is there not a Universities commission or council or something that you could contact?

Avatar for LyndonShip

Yes, I think financial mismanagement is the problem. I am funding myself so I suppose that should make it easier for me, ideally I would like to stay with the same institution, I will see what information I can find.

P

It might be a solution rather than a problem because you should be able to quickly find someone else to supervise you. Nobody is going to turn down a few years of fees. Just a shame you have to worry about this sort of thing at such an early stage.

Avatar for LyndonShip

Ideally I would keep the same supervisor, he is the main reason I enrolled at the University, I had been studying with him for the past 4 years at my previous University and he came up with my thesis topic.

Avatar for rewt

If you are self funded you have plenty of options and it is more on you to decide what you want. If you want to stay with your supervisor tell them that and say you will follow them. If he gets a new job at a new university, the university will mot likely not reject you. You could also look to have him as an external supervisor at in Liverpool or at another local university. Self funding brings a range of opportunities and it is rare for a self funded PhD student admission to be rejected. I think the best advice I can give is work out what you want most and follow that. Your PhD is changing regardless and you will need to be flexible in this awkward situation.

Avatar for LyndonShip

Sorry I couldn't log in for a while, yes thank you for your advice, I think sticking with my supervisor is the best plan!

56533