Bits & pieces

[juliet]

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2276735,00.html - Oxford letting down its postgrads? My experience (when doing an MPhil, which is 50% taught and 50% research) was that the taught section was well-run[0], my supervisor was very helpful, but yes, the college supervisor wasn't terribly involved. I benefitted from being at a subject-specific college, so at least my college supervisor knew my subject (& did read over my thesis for me). And my university supervisor was in fact at Nuffield as well. Fees were astronomical, but Nuffield is heavily subsidised for accommodation so that wasn't too bad (esp compared to e.g. Pembroke). I definitely agree that students at all levels have virtually no useful input or recourse on college/university policy. Which sucks.

ION: yesterday I put my NEW TENT up in the square outside. This is for cycle-camping purposes - it's a second-hand
Robert Saunders Jetpacker Plus donated by another cyclist. It is v light and surprisingly roomy - uon and I both fitted into it although I wouldn't want to have 2 people in it for more than a couple of days of cycle touring. I also tried out the Coleman stove also donated by the same person, and made a cup of tea on it. Fire!

[0] Although I missed out on a fair bit of it due to going a bit funny in the head. Not the fault of the tutors, although arguably in part the fault of Nuffield, my college.

Comments

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

I applied for a DPhil studentship at Oxford. The supervisor asked if I was serious about staying in research, and when I replied yes, explained that I was clearly good, she didn't have time to supervise a student, over 1/3 of Oxford postgrads never got their DPhils, and she was therefore recommending me to some of her friends rather than give me her studentship, which only existed as a condition of getting funds for the rest of the lab - she was looking for someone who didn't really want a DPhil who could essentially be a research assistant.

[jvvw.livejournal.com]

The article seems to be about college support not overall support which is weird - I would have been surprised to receive academic support from my college (the chance of one of the two maths dons being in my area being pretty much nil) as opposed to my department during the D.Phil. But then I was an undergraduate there so knew what to expect I guess. It seems the problem is really communication of how Oxford works to people applying for postgraduate degrees. That and the amount that colleges charge maybe - no idea how much is reasonable for a college to charge, but I can imagine a college spending £300,000 a year on facilities/infrastructure for postgrads doesn't seem totally beyond the bounds of possibility. Maybe they should just be more open about where the money goes.

It doesn't seem to talk about general quality of D.Phil. supervision and how it compares to other universities, which is another issue entirely and would seem a much more interesting thing to look into.

[htfb.livejournal.com]

The "college advisor" (in Merton referred to as an in-college tutor) was from what I saw there to be a second point of contact with your faculty in case your relationship with your supervisor broke down. Ulrike Tillmann did an excellent job by me, especially at the very end when I needed senior friends to carry me through various technicalities of admin.