Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Support Systems
I meant to blog about this a while ago but never got around to it. At the moment I am really annoyed with my old PhD home department. When I finished my PhD I wrote to the head honcho of postgraduate students in the department detailing quite specifically how I felt the department had let me down during parts of my PhD. In particular the fact that on paper the department seems to have adequate support systems and proceedures for ensuring students make decent progress and stuff but in reality it's just a load of pointless admin. I didn't really get a satisfactory response from my letter but I felt that it was time to move on and accept that I had done what I could and hope that the department would review their proceedures at some point. Anyway it turns out that a current student of my old supervisor is having a lot of similar problems which I encountered (and which previous students before me encountered) and that NOTHING is being done about it. What is even worse is that this student has gone to the doctor to get additional help but the underlying problem (his work in a particular lab with a particular supervisor) is not being assisted in any way by the university. As I'm no longer associated with the lab or student there is not a lot I can do except see how things pan out and get frustrated with the ineptness of the department and suggest small alternative methods of support and ways in which the student can try and help himself a bit more than he does at the moment. The worst case scenario is that the student will not pass his PhD and maybe then the department will look into things further, although that is a little late and extreme. Or they may continue to do nothing which wouldn't suprise me in the slightest.
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That sucks. I experienced similar finishing up my PhD in the UK. We had to fill in annual progress reports where we could put down any 'issues' or 'problems'. My project was out on a limb for the supervisor and I was concerned that as supervisor could not tell me if the science I was applying was good or not, I'd get screwed in my viva. I was told to discuss the matter with the supervisor by the uni. Yeah, because (1) I didn't think of that already, and (2) dear supervisor, I think I might not pass my viva because you're not an expert in the broad field I work in, just doesn't wash. The support mechanisms didn't exist.
It is frustrating and annoying and inexcusable. But good for you for writing to complain and trying to be heard.
I hope that student gets through, sanity intact.
It is frustrating and annoying and inexcusable. But good for you for writing to complain and trying to be heard.
I hope that student gets through, sanity intact.
The thing that frustrates me the most is that the university are big on being seen to be supportive and have systems in place, but in REALITY it's all a heap of rubbish and doesn't work at all and they have continued to ignore feedback from students about this.
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