0

I live in an Asian country and I have planned to apply to PhD positions in France and UK in Pure mathematics.

I wrote to one professor saying that I am interested in his work and would like to work under his supervision for PhD research.

Here is an excerpt from his reply:

"In France we have essentially targeted funding so we need students and advisor to know themselves well in advance so that a project can be defined before applying for funding. It can work only with at least a couple of months preparation before the deadlines for funding applications."

So, there is quite a difference between PhD research in UK and France. In UK the admissions are centralized and other 1st year is taught advanced courses and funding is for 4 years while in France the funding is for 3 years and I don't think there are taught courses, admission is also not centralized.

So, can you please tell me some other differences which I must keep in mind (and which I am unaware of) before writing to professors in France?

Sursula
  • 20,540
  • 8
  • 62
  • 121
  • 4
    I suspect that your understanding of the UK system is quite lacking, too. It might thus be better to ask HOW stuff in France works, rather than asking about the differences to the UK. It would also make the question more broadly applicable. – Arno Jan 13 '22 at 09:25
  • 2
    @MassimoOrtolano Let me have a stab at that canonical question for UK and France. I agree that the answer to this question would fit there perfectly. – penelope Jan 13 '22 at 10:17
  • @penelope If you have time, that would be great! :-) We surely have a number of users from UK and France, but probably thus far none have had the time (or dared) to write something. – Massimo Ortolano Jan 13 '22 at 10:24
  • 2
    @MassimoOrtolano I never noticed the question :/ I did my PhD in France (so might be a bit outdated) and now hold an academic position in the UK, so I think I should be qualified to answer both. – penelope Jan 13 '22 at 10:25
  • There may be some informal advanced lectures during UK PhDs, but they are typically not mandatory and there will be no exams. The focus is on research from day one, like most (all?) European PhD degrees. – astronat supports the strike Jan 13 '22 at 10:32
  • @astronat That is very untrue for an increasing number of PhD positions in the UK. Most of them now include a first year of coursework, which is graded, and includes a final project. They also sadly do not consider themselves particularly European. – penelope Jan 13 '22 at 11:34
  • 1
    @penelope Thank you so much! Even if you are a bit out of touch with modern realities in France, you know how it is in the academic world - it's much easier to get people to critique your work than publish their own ;) – Lodinn Jan 13 '22 at 12:01
  • Does this answer your question? How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in Country X? I have now cast a vote to close this, as I've provided very detailed answers for both the UK and France to the other question. – penelope Jan 13 '22 at 12:45
  • @penelope Thank you very much! –  Jan 13 '22 at 12:56
  • @penelope interesting, in which field? I have never heard of this in physics. I finished my PhD in the UK last year. – astronat supports the strike Jan 13 '22 at 15:51
  • @astronat I'm in computer science/robotics. It is mostly in the last two years that we had a major re-balance of the type of PhD students in the group: from individually funded 3 years research only programmes, to 1+3 years (1 year integrated thought masters) programmes funded through larger grants awarded to institutions for several PhD positions 3-5 years in a row. Feel free to read my UK answer to the linked duplicate question for more details. – penelope Jan 13 '22 at 16:06

0 Answers0