It’ll be be 2 years in November that I’m doing a PhD in Queen Mary University of London. In this post I’m gonna describe some important moments that are worth considering if you are thinking of getting a PhD in the UK. This would particularly be helpful for overseas students with citizenship different from the UK one.

Disclaimer #1: when I was choosing where to do my PhD, for personal reasons I only considered London. So I didn’t really delve into the nuances and differences between PhD programs in the UK and in other countries. And that’s unfortunate, to be honest. The general takeaway of ​​the post can probably be summed up like this: if I had realized the points described below in advance, I would have chosen to go somewhere else.

Disclaimer #2: I am writing this based on my experience, and I may not see the bigger picture. And I can only judge about PhD in AI, I can’t say anything about other programs (although all the points described below do not directly relate to AI, they are general).

So let’s begin ⬇️

  1. In the UK there is no funding for PhD positions from the university (or at least not in many places, I can’t say for every university of course). That is, if you want to do a PhD in some lab, you need to get a grant/scholarship. Of course, there are quite a few such scholarships (for example, here is a list of those at my university), but still. You need to find the ones you are suitable for, then apply and wait for the result. I have also heard of situations when a professor was ready to take a student to a lab in one of the UK universities, but the student needed to find a source of funding for himself. Moreover, some of these scholarships cover only tuition fees, but do not provide a stipend, so you have to live on whatever you want.

    My PhD, for example, is funded by DeepMind. I applied for this scholarship independently from the agreement with my professor and participated in the competition for it. A couple of people from my PhD group also have scholarships provided by industry companies, and one girl is funded by an organization from her country (and then she needs to return and work off this funding).

  2. Even if you do get a stipend, it’s very small, while the life in London is extremely expensive. And it’s not just about the prices of milk and coffee, the rent in London is a thing. The standard compensation most stipends provide is £1,715 per month. It’s really-really hard to survive on that in London.

  3. Even if you get a stipend, it often covers only 3 (three!!) years. Completing a good PhD in three years is some kind of miracle, it is very difficult. From what I hear around, a PhD takes on average 4 years, but many end up doing it for 5 or 6 years. And this is normal, as if you have eventually decided to do a PhD, you’d want your dissertation to be of a good quality, not just any that gets out. And, honestly said, three years for such a journey is very little. Consider also that many people experience stress at the beginning of a PhD. And various life circumstances that affect productivity at any other point in life are still here.

    To be fair, your PhD in the UK is expected to be completed within 4 years, not 3. But after three years, you have to switch to the writing-up stage, i.e. state to the university that “that’s it, I’m starting to wrap up my dissertation.” Considering that writing and defending a dissertation is not a quick process, you are given a whole year for this. And during that year you don’t have a scholarship, so you have to look for a job.

    Recently I also found out why it is so that most fundings are given for 3 years. It turns out that in the UK universities have a metric, or even better said a requirement: PhD students must complete their studies in no more than 4 years. My supervisor literally said the phrase “universities are punished if it takes somebody more than 4 years”. To be honest, I don’t understand what kind of nonsense this is, because, once again, PhD is a complex process, being different for everyone, and you’d want to do it well, not just do it.

    The only way to extend your PhD is to take internships. This time does not count towards the 4 years. My scholarship is also given for 3 years, so right now I am doing an internship at Huawei in London, and I plan to find another one for the summer. But there is a huge nuance here too - you can’t work full-time on a student visa in the UK, only 20 hours a week. Beside that, you need to ask for an interruption of studies in order for the internship time not to be included in 4 years of your PhD. But when you ask for an interruption of studies, the university reports this to UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration), and they can ask you to leave the country, because you are on a student visa, and you are not studying 🫠

    Therefore, the options here are:
    • Take an internship in another country, where you will get a visa, and ask for an interruption of studies in the UK for this time;
    • Take a part-time internship in the UK, but then this time will not be deducted from these 4 years;
    • Switch from a student visa into another one. For example, Global Talent. But there’s also a problem, damn it. The thing is, in July 2023, an amendment to the Global Talent visa regulation was issued, which prohibits PhD students from switching to a GT or any other work-related visa until they have completed two years of their PhD. The ban on switching a visa to any work-related one also means that you cannot get a temporary work visa for the internship period. This option becomes available only by the third year of your PhD, and in the first two years you will not be able to do an interruption of studies and go on a full-time internship within the UK.

    I experienced an issue with GT visa myself last year. I received an endorsement (a certificate that I am qualified for a Global Talent) in June 2023, and then I applied for the actual change of visa in July. And just 5 days before my application, this amendment came out, which prohibited PhD students from switching to GT before the end of two years of PhD. It was not reported anywhere, I did not know about it. As a result, I have an official visa refusal in the UK, because of which every time I enter the UK they now hold me with the phrase “you were refused, I need to investigate”

    I am now in my second year of PhD, and I have applied to GT again. I hope that this time it will be approved. I need this to interrupt my studies during my internship at Huawei and extend my PhD for at least 3 months.

  4. There is another unpleasant moment about the UK in general, which concerns those who need visas to travel to Europe. It is that the UK is not part of the Schengen zone. That is, you can’t just go to Europe. And given the current difficulties with Schengen visas for Russians, this is especially unpleasant now. For example, for a conference in Milan, I had to book a trip to Spain (which costs money) and apply for a visa for £100. And I did all this just to be issued a visa for 15 days of stay 🫠

    What’s also funny is that now you can’t even go to Ireland with a UK visa (well, you can only go to Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK).

  5. A UK student visa does not lead to ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) or citizenship. This time does not count at all. For me, this does not play a big role, but for someone else it may.

For comparison, the situation with PhD in Europe is different in all respects. Most universities provide funding for PhD positions, the scholarship amount relative to the cost of living is much better, and you can easily do a PhD for about 6 years. And, well, if you do a PhD in Europe, then you can easily move around Europe. Further, student years in Europe are often counted towards obtaining a residence permit or citizenship. For example, in Germany, a year on a student visa counts as six months for citizenship.

These were disadvantages of doing a PhD in the UK. For the sake of fairness, let’s try to find the advantages. In my opinion, they are as follows:

  • The UK and London in particular are fairly large AI hubs. There are many industry companies which you can interact with, go to events and internships. Also because of this, there is a large community of AI-related people. You can find a meetup/event and a professional groups for any liking;
  • The opportunity to get a Global Talent visa (but after two years of PhD). This is a good visa for those who want the opportunity to do almost anything in the UK and get an ILR/passport in 3-5 years.
  • The level of universities in the UK is generally quite high, there are many good professors and strong labs.

That’s all that comes to mind for now. Thanks for reading! If you have anything to add/correct in the post, please comment or contact me.