Recruiting (and keeping)
Research Students
John Kirby
Graduate School
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Why do you want a student?
• The upside
– Have excellent qualification and a high
degree of motivation
• Can be easier to attract good students than
post-docs
– Can be good value for money
• Projects often lead to new areas and large
grants
– Can be highly productive
• Some groups report up to 1/3 of their RAE
submissions stem from PhD student research
– Positive contribution to research
environment
Why do you want a student?
• The downside
– Projects can be expensive
• Can be a drain on resource (not much money
for consumables)
– Loss leaders…
– Can be very labour intensive for
supervisors and other lab workers
• Time pressures
• Assessment
• Thesis writing
• About 30% of our high impact factor
(>10) papers 1st authored by students
The bottom line
• In order to maximise fee income, the
faculty expects all members of
academic staff to supervise a mean of
2.3 postgraduate research students.
• But, you need to appoint excellent
students
• And it is possible to have too many
students!
How do you get a student? - 1
• Apply for a studentship grant
– Examples:
•
•
•
•
Research Councils (various schemes)
EU schemes (Marie Curie)
Faculty schemes
Charities
– British Heart Foundation, ARC, etc
» But, changing priorities (eg CR-UK), credit crunch
– Typically need ~ £75,000 for a 36 month studentship
(home –EU- fees, with limited consumables)
• May also be 4-year schemes
– Combine with MRes (1 + 3 year)
– Advertise the vacancy (through the graduate school)
• Ask around. Maybe local graduates!
– Worth engaging with undergraduate/masters programmes
How do you get a student? - 2
• Consider an application in your
research area from a candidate who is
self financing or has other personal
support
– Often (but not always) an international
applicant
– >50% of PhD students in UK are from
overseas
• Electronic application
– http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/
How do students apply?
• If responding to an advertised
studentship
– Students might contact the supervisor(s)
directly for informal information
But
– They should also use a reference number
for specific web-based application through
the ‘E2R’ (enquiries to registration) system
How do students apply?
• If making a general application for PhD
training, students also use the online
system
• Student may not have identified a
supervisor
– but, should provide details (up to 500
words) listing research interests/plans
• Student may not have secured funding
– A conditional offer from Newcastle can
often help such students to secure a
grant/visa
What next?
• Applications are sent to the admissions
team at King’s Gate
• If application is for a specific
(advertised) studentship, details of all
applicants are forwarded to supervisors
– Minimum requirements:
• Relevant good upper second class degree (or
equivalent)
• Two satisfactory references
• Language qualification (see later)
If an international application, the Admissions Office
will:
• Check qualifications (including quality of the issuing
university)
• Request references
• Pass application to Prof Steve Yeaman
– (who decides whether to proceed)
• Then to School/Institute PG co-ordinator
– (who selects most appropriate supervisors)
• Then to individual academic
– (who decides whether to offer conditional place
and level of fees)
– Additional guidance for handling international
applications is available at
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/fms/staff/supervisor/
Fees
• International students are required to pay
fees at a high rate
–
–
–
–
–
Band 2
Band 2a
Band 2b:
Band 2c:
Band 3:
no ‘bench fee’
£2,525 comes to the supervisor
£5,050 comes to the supervisor
£6,565 comes to the supervisor
£9,090 comes to the supervisor
– See “Fees Schedule” for definitions, current fees
and future predictions
• Good idea to seek help from staff in the Graduate School
• Good overseas students can apply for a
competitive award from Faculty (ORS
scheme) to pay the difference between home
(EU) and overseas fees.
Qualification
• For PhD candidates the normal
expectation is a masters level degree
– Or equivalent experience, etc.
• BSc students should be encouraged to
take an MRes or apply for an integrated
MRes/PhD.
• Why?
– In line with normal expectations in EU
– Bologna protocol
English language
• Measured by recognised examinations
– Typically IELTS (international English
language test system)
• Require overall score of 6.5 (+/-10% error!)
– 4 component scores
» Writing
(minimum score of 6 required)
» Reading
» Speaking
» Listening
– Or complete a pre-sessional programme of
study
• No measure of success and little follow up
References
• Few academics will write strongly
negative references (F of I)
– Read between the lines
– Look for faint praise or coded messages
• ‘with the benefit of strong supervision this
candidate should…..’
• ‘although this applicant has no direct
knowledge of the subject area, with appropriate
training (s)he…..’
• If in doubt, phone the referee for a chat
If possible, interview potential
students
• Minimum of 2 experienced supervisors
– Supervisory team
• Ideally, also an additional academic
• Remember to offer to pay expenses!
– Conference call?
• Decide in advance what you will all
contribute to the process
– Who will ask what?
• Keep notes
• Has the candidate taken the trouble to
find out about your work?
• Why did the candidate apply for this
project?
• What relevant experience has (s)he?
– Final year project?
– Summer vacation projects?
• Do you think the candidate will accept
the studentship if offered?
Discrimination
• Be fully aware of (and comply completely
with) the University’s policy on discrimination
–
–
–
–
Age
Sex
Disability
Race
• But be aware that not all funding bodies will
support applications from non UK or EU
nationals
– For example, EU funded students training in the
UK often must be citizens of any country in the EU
but the UK!
• Keep a record of your decision – you might
be asked to show this if there is any dispute.
What next?
• Let the admissions office know your decision
(complete a studentship form and send to the
graduate school)
– detail project title, supervisors, fee band, start
date, grant number, HoI (or proxy) signature
etc
• The admissions office will issue a formal
offer to successful candidates and inform
unsuccessful candidates
– You might also wish to provide personalised, specific
feedback
• The graduate school will make a
studentship offer to the successful applicant
– Check the offer has been made and received!
Selection is critical
Every year a number of research students
withdraw after registration
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
13
15
19
13
21
22
28
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/9
19
10
9
7
10
9
5
This represents a significant waste of
(your) time, money and effort (and can
damage our completion record)
Reasons for withdrawal
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal/Health/Financial
PhD study not what expected/wanted
Lack of results/wrong project for me
Unhappy with supervision
Student gone AWOL
Studies terminated by Dean of Postgraduate
Studies
• Transferred with supervisor to another
institution
Is withdrawal predictable?
• Life events – not really
– Maybe interruption of studies is appropriate?
• Weak students – yes
– there is a strong correlation between students with a 2:2 or
whose language entry criteria have been waived and
subsequent withdrawal
• Has the supervisory team experienced a greater than
average withdrawal rate? (some have)
• Was the student really motivated to undertake this
specific project?
– Should this have been apparent at an earlier stage?
• Some students only decide to do a PhD when they get a better
degree than anticipated; late applicants…
• Was the project well-designed, ethical and achievable
within the timescale?
– Project approval process
‘Exit routes’ along the way
• The four-year MRes – PhD programme
is ideal.
• If the MRes does not go well, the
student can leave after 12 months with
(hopefully) a semi-positive outcome
– Successful students also benefit from the
experience gained during the MRes and
will hit the ground running at the start of the
PhD.
What about 3-year PhD programmes
• The 8-month progress review identifies
students who are unlikely to achieve a
PhD
– However, a clear decision MUST be
reached within the first 12-months
• Many grants will re-generate first year funding if
a student departs in the first 12 months
• Withdrawal after 12 months shows as noncompletion in our overall rates
– Remember future studentship funding depends on
the maintenance of high completion rates!
Induction
• Project approval
– Defines project goals, timelines, supervisory team,
assessors
– Crucial for assessors to approve projects which
have not already been peer-reviewed (eg:
overseas or self-funded students)
• Learning agreement
• Management of expectations
– “But I thought I’d get my own desk, computer,
technician and access to the most expensive
reagents and equipment….”
• “and meet my supervisors whenever and wherever I
choose…”
Expectations: The student
• Space
– Where is my desk, computer, heat, light…
• Funding
– I want consumables, equipment, travel
• Access to supervisors
– Why isn’t my supervisor interested in my work?
• Work-life balance
– “But I want to go to Thailand for six weeks”
• I want more help with progress reports
• I want more help with my thesis
– My supervisor didn’t read/correct my thesis over
the weekend
Expectations: The supervisor
• Where is my student?
– Working hours and holidays
• But I am the co-supervisor
– What is my role?
• Why do they always come to me when I
am busy?
– Should my door always be open?
• Management of costs.
– Do you provide a computer?
• Am I a proof reader?
Formal supervisory meetings
• What is a ‘formal’ meeting?
– You pass your student in the corridor and
say ‘is everything OK’
– Your student politely answer ‘Yes’
• Nice, but NOT a formal meeting
Formal meetings
• What is a ‘formal’ meeting?
– You are working in the lab/office/field next
to one of your students and ask how work
is progressing and offer help
• Should happen, but NOT a formal
meeting
Formal meetings - 1
• Formal meetings are the most vital part of
your project
• Frequency
– Often more common at the start than at the
end of your project
– In this Faculty should not be more than two
months apart (or less than 10 per year)
– Your student should initiate meetings
• make an appointment (perhaps even book a quiet
room – no phone)
• Invite all appropriate members of supervisory team
Formal meetings - 2
• What happens at the meeting?
– Examine results and interesting papers and
discuss these in detail
• Make plans
• Discuss problems
• Ensure the project is more than a series of
small experiments
– Plan the thesis
Formal meetings - 3
• During the meeting
– The student should take notes
• After the meeting
– The student writes minutes of the meeting
(can be done on-line using the e-portfolio)
– Circulates these to all supervisors for
additional comment
– Bring the minutes to the next meeting
• Next meeting
– You all discover the experiments didn’t go as
planned!
Scary stuff
• Overseas students require a “Tier 4”
visa
• The university has a licence from the
government to administer these visas
– One condition is that we MUST be able to
demonstrate student attendance
– Audits are not announced
• At least one licences has been revoked!
• The e-portfolio meeting record has been
designed to provide the evidence!
– Keep it up to date for all your students
A final word…..
• You must stop the project and allow the
student to write up just when the work is
reaching its most interesting phase
• You must allow the student to develop
independence
– It is a good sign when a student takes
ownership from you
• Ultimately, your job is to train a good
scientist and then encourage him or her
to leave your group!