Hi all.

I am in my third year of the PhD, with 2 funded months left. Progress so far is going well, I have almost got together a first draft of the thesis (should be up together by end of August) and my department have offered me a completion bursary, although I'm not sure how much this is (I would think around 3 grand). However, I would have to have the PhD completely finished (had viva, and everything) by this time next year. I asked my supervisor what would happen if I didn't do this in time (pessimistic, I know, but I just feel I need to know in case) and she said she doesn't know, and just that it must be in by this date. I'm concerned if I'd have to pay it back or something! Saying that, I'm fairly confident it can be done in this time frame, I'm just trying to suss everything out!

Any thoughts on this would be welcome, especially if you or anyone you know has had a completion bursary!

Purpleflower x

*bump!*

I must admit, I've never heard of the idea of a completion bursary. I suspect it's been introduced as now one of the things unis are assessed on is % of PhD students completing in under 4 years (or some kind of metric along those lines). So I suspect you're being 'encouraged' not to mess up their numbers!

I have no idea whether or not you'd have to pay it back if you go over, though I suspect there may be some kind of penalty. Check with the university as this is sufficiently uncommon I doubt there is a universal policy on it.

I've never heard of a completion bursary. Do you mean bribe?

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*Removed by Postgrad Forum team - spam*

All I got was a slice of cake, and a handshake. :-(

There are completion bursaries at my uni, I know a couple of people who had them. The deal in our uni is that the supervisor's operating budget has to pay it back if the student doesn't submit by the deadline- I think the supervisor has to show they have the funds available as a prerequisite for the student being offered the bursary. So it acts as an incentive for both student and supervisor to get it done I guess. I think you definitely need to find out for sure what the deal is with your bursary, so you can go into it properly informed. Then if something happens to delay you in finishing during the next year, you can document it properly or take whatever is required. I'd say there's certainly the chance either you or your supervisor would have to repay it if you miss the deadline. But as others have said it's unlikely to be standard between unis.