Tier2 visa for a 1 year contract

[sherene]

Hi,

I'm currently a PhD student in the UK writing up my thesis (My student visa ends in Feb 2015). I recently was offered a job in the university as a Research Assistant and the university is sponsoring a CofS for me to apply for a Tier2 visa. My contract is for 12 months starting from October 2013. I know that the Tier2 visa will be issued for the length of the contract plus extra couple of weeks. So my Tier2 visa will end in 2014 October/November.

I want to know if I could apply for the Doctoral extension scheme when my Tier2 visa is about to expire because I will be completing my PhD in 2014. I want to extend my stay in the UK after October 2014. I found that the only way is to get another job and apply for a Tier2 visa again. Is there any other way that I could extend my stay in UK?