I am due to start my PhD in October and have a couple of questions with regards to the 'setting up' process. The University haven't been very helpful since I waited quite a while for them to sort the paperwork out and send me the offer letter. I expected this to be more like a pack to highlight all the things that come with joining a Uni, ie. registration, term dates etc etc. Instead, it's just a letter.

My PhD is being funded by a BBSRC CASE studentship in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline and this apparently covers my tuition fees and gives a generous stipend. When am I expected to sort these money bits n bob out? When I start or before?

Apologies if this seems badly written and kacky but I'm having an extremely stressful day.

go to the uni website and you should find an area for postgrad students, this should give you some of the info you need, and probably most importantly a contact number or e-mail address of the post grad secretary. Give them a ring/send them an e-mail and they will be able to answer your questions. Universities seem in general to work on the idea that everyone is telepathic and also assume that people who are just starting out don't find the process a bit traumatic. If you can't find the area, phone the uni on Monday. Since many people are 'on holiday' when the undergrads are off campus they may just not have got round to providing you with the information yet- but they will...eventually!:-)

The tuition fee part you don't have to worry about, your University should have sorted that out already. I think that I had a form directly from my Research Council for bank details etc, and this was done before I started so I had my first instalment before I started. NERC has different student advisors for different Universities (one person covers Universities A-M for example) - I presume BBSRC have something similar if you check out their website.