My provisional year review has been accepted and I am now officially a fully fledged 'PhD Candidate'.No longer can I used the 'I'm just a first year PhD student' to explain my inadequacies, and instead am forced to stand on my own two feet and argue with the big kids.
PhD diapers are gone! Training wheels are growing moss in the garden somewhere.
This process has taken far longer than it needed to. Perhaps I have an excuse, due to the impending, permanent departure of two out of three of my supervisors. Paperwork has seemed way down the list of priorities for the past couple of months.
This 'provisional year review' process is required by the university, in order to justify my continual employment, and receipt of 'free money' (aka, my doctoral scholarship). But perhaps more relevant to my situation, the university attempts to cut down on those large numbers of PhD students who do not complete their PhDs, dropping out in later years when things turn to sh*t and they can't handle the pressure. Obviously a waste of money for the university.
Now that it's over, I can laugh at the bureaucracy of it all. Everyone just wants to cover their own backs, me included:
My supervisor admits that he will no longer be my supervisor.
The independent person assigned to discuss my progress with me is concerned about my emotional stability without supervisory support.
The head of department doesn't know who I am.
Together, they decide to 'flag' me as a potential drop out.
Because it doesn't matter what happens, as long as it's in writing...
No comments:
Post a Comment