There is no strict definition to separate either term and in many circumstances they mean the same thing. However in the UK generally a studentship covers course fees and living expences, but may only be available to home students. Scholarships may be supplemental to a studentship or instead of one. They may only cover some or all of the course fees but not living expences.

See our Funding section for links and information.

Teaching studentships are usually positions which are funded internally by the university. Although there may be opportunities to earn money by taking on work beyond the stated hours, in most cases you will not be paid extra for any of the teaching which is conditional for your studentship.

There are usually many more PhD students than there are opportunities to demonstrate or take tutorials. Most people end up doing only a few hours every term. It can be really good experience and will be of some help in deciding whether you want to continue in academia. The money is usually pretty good and will be tax free for full time PhD students. Rates vary but through an extensive survey of a single PhD student we heard that he got £13.50/hour for demonstrating.

Bicycle repair man, you are forgetting that we make our money from universities who are trying to encourage people to do a PhD! Brutal honesty has never been tried in advertising before and we don't intend to start a trend here.

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that we're finding it hard to think of new questions for the FindAPhD poll. So if anyone has any bright ideas (and lets face it if you're on this site you should have at least one or two inside you) then put them here. Each poll needs to have four possible answers (because the web guys here say it's too much hassle to change it)

We can't comment directly on your personal experiences. Any leniency regarding language skills is likely to be given to students because they are paying full international fees rather than their nationality itself. It may be that the prejudice you are talking about exists because UK universities can't make a surplus from EU students and so demand higher standards before they are prepared to take them on. Any discrimination is fiscal not racial.

Having said this all UK universities publish their English Language requirements for entry and these are the same for all applicants - even UK applicants must have an English Language qualification.

Good point. For our purposes 'academic' means anybody who has completed a PhD and is currently working in the university system (including post-docs).

Student covers current undergraduates, postgraduates and those in between their first and second degree (or even second and third)

Admittedly, this is the first occasion on which we have told users of the forum how we define these categories ( - very loosely! - ), but the rational is that once you're doing a post-doc you will know quite a bit about the PhD system and should call yourself academic so other users of the forum believe your contribution is that little bit more valid than Dave from Leamington Spa, who applied for a PhD once, but never posted the letter.

Now you're taking the ....

Glad you like the site. We try our best to manage the forum in a way which allows for as many queries as possible to be answered. We rarely delete postings, but we do move the less interesting ones to the General section.

For many visitors to FindAPhD/FindAMasters the forum is the first thing they come across, which is why they ask questions which are already answered elsewhere in the site. It's easy to think that many of the postings are made by 'strange people', but there is no second chance on the forum - if you write something stupid you can't delete or edit it. So don't get angry, get posting.

Yes - it is to do with funding. Most studentships in the UK are allocated to an academic, who then chooses which student to appoint. However in some cases, particularly in the arts and humanities, the academic must present both, a good research project and an exceptional student to carry it out, to the funding body, before they can receive funding.

Such a system should allow you far more input into defining the aims and scope of your research project.

Providing the younger supervisor is someone you can get along with (and has time for his/her current students) then you're probably better off with him/her. However, it may depend on your temperament, if you prefer a safer option then go with the more experienced supervisor who'll get you through the PhD, but might not have the reputation or the contacts that will help you get on after your PhD has finished.

As a member of the British Commonwealth, students from Pakistan can apply for a number of grants. See our Funding pages for more information.

There is no doubt that universities in the UK actively seek out fee paying international students and that these fees often generate a surplus which is ploughed back into the university for the benefit of all its students. A university with a strong international reputation and high numbers of international students is less susceptible to changes in government funding policy. UK universities are increasingly expected to teach more students for the same money and need to find other sources of income.

Rumours of preferential treatment always exist and universities will often appear to give better treatment to fee paying students. However any university who drops their academic standards will soon find its degrees devalued and its student numbers dropping.

UK universities are funded by The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and The Department of Education for Northern Ireland. They receive funding from these institutions based on a number of factors, the biggest of which is the number of home and EU students which they teach. In other words the universities are subsidised for each UK/EU student they have. They receive no such subsidy for students from other areas and therefore need to charge the full cost of the course.

The logic behind this system is firstly that the UK government is prepared to subsidise the education of its own citizens (and future tax payers). Reciprocal agreements with other EU countries mean that this subsidised rate is also available to all other EU citizens.

We are not condoning or condemning this system, but the logic behind it is pretty straight forward.