Are you an international, distance, or part-time research student?

At Exeter University we are well aware of the diverse nature of our researcher population, for example we have over 1,500 doctoral students currently registered from over 100 countries. However, doing a doctorate in another country, and/or part-time and/or at a distance requires a positive attitude, a bright mind, lots of hard work, and a considerable amount of local support and guidance. Having supervised international students myself, first at undergraduate level and then working in Africa and Australia, I fully appreciate the challenges and opportunities that such an experience presents.

The University of Exeter 'Researcher Development Programme' provides a wide-range of workshops to help you undertake your doctorate with confidence and confidence. Sessions range from ’Managing your PhD project’ to ‘How to write effectively at PhD level’, through to ‘How to get published’. We run over 50 different sessions, all repeated throughout the year. Some will be much more appropriate in your first year of study, whilst some will be more relevant for the later stages of your research project – you can pick and choose as you see fit.

One of the great benefits of attending these free, practical sessions as an international researcher is that they provide you with an excellent opportunity to meet researchers from other subjects at the University, and to gain from their experiences, skills, cultures and points of view. They are also an excellent way of really enhancing your written and spoken English at an academic level, as all sessions are interactive and require research students to make a contribution.

The sessions that we run have been very highly rated by students who attend – nearly 2,500 per year – with 95% stating that they would “highly recommend” them to others. So, if you study here at Exeter, you will be able to benefit from our comprehensive training programme.

Below is a typical comment from an international student who has attended the programme:

“The Researcher Development Programme offers a great opportunity for personal as well as career development. The seminars are presented by experts in a critical and self-challenging manner where group discussions and activities play a major role in the learning process. Although the seminars’ applicability ranges to all fields of knowledge, they are very well structured and professionally devised to target specific academic and career objectives. The focus is mainly on practical issues which enable strategic planning for your research.”
Joseph Bayeh, International Student, College of Humanities

For those of you studying away from Exeter, we have developed interactive online PhD training materials to reflect our core programme, in collaboration with the Universities of Bath and Bristol. Please visit the Researcher Development Online page.

Dr Chris Wood
Researcher Development Manager

International researchers should visit the International Student Exchange and Support Office, and may also benefit from visiting UK Thesis, an editing and proofreading service for international students.