International PhD student - DES in question.

Hello,

I am an international PhD student who is in his fourth year. I was informed just a month ago that if I didn't finish my doctorate in 4 years time then I will not be able to apply for the Doctorate Extension Scheme which is equivalent to a one year Post study work visa.

PhD work is highly rigorous and extensive in nature and I strongly feel that informing a fourth year international PhD student about such a deadline is unfair. If me and my supervisor knew about such a deadline, we would have approached the research project differently. In fact, my supervisor kept asking me to look at more literature etc. because she wanted my thesis to be of great quality and while she was doing that, I could have objected and stated that we are running out of time so we cannot possibly take such a route. Moreover, she has taken a lot of time on occasions to provide feedback on the drafts submitted; sometimes, two months, a month a half and on several occasions, almost a month.

Anyway, I will still do my best to finish my PhD by November this year but in case, I didn't, I will lose out on the opportunity to find work, plus, I would have to submit my thesis to the university from my home country and then give my viva probably via a Skype video call or God knows how so please kindly advise.

Do you think I have a case, if I registered my objection and tell the relevant department of the university that you cannot impose such a ruling on a 4th year international PhD student and this rule should only apply to students who have started their doctorate in February 2016.

Many thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Ph

Has your university published this policy anywhere that we can read? Or have they explained it to you in writing, so you can copy and paste?

In summary, they have basically made two changes:

1. All doctorate students need to finish their PhDs within 4 years or they will not be allowed to apply for the Doctoral Extension Scheme.

2. On top of that they need to apply for the DES 60 days before their actual award date.

So in a nutshell, they expect all PhD students including fourth year ones to finish their PhDs within the next 10 months or forget about finding work after earning their doctorates.Some of the international PhD students do not even have 10 months, in fact, they are about to cross the 4th year mark within the next few months. I feel that this is highly unfair as both the supervisors and the students would have taken a less lengthy approach, if such a harsh deadline was known to them at the start of their doctorates. I also feel that the DES is every international PhD student's right as it is an opportunity given to them by the government and no university should be allowed to take this right away from them.

I need to know do I have a case here because God forbidden, if I did not finish my doctorate within the next 9 or 10 months then I am mostly likely to challenge this decision of the university. In fact, do you think I should challenge this decision already?

MJ34567 wrote: 1. All doctorate students need to finish their PhDs within 4 years or they will not be allowed to apply for the Doctoral Extension Scheme.

Is there a link to this policy? Which university is it?

MJ34567 wrote:2. On top of that they need to apply for the DES 60 days before their actual award date.

That is not a change. They can only issue a CAS for a DES application if you are within 60 days of your completion date. Has always been thus.

MJ34567 wrote:In fact, do you think I should challenge this decision already?

Definitely question it, and ask for the thinking behind it. Advise you do this together with and on behalf of all PhD students on Tier 4 visas, probably in conjunction with your students union.