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GETTING INTO THE SYSTEM

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Once you have decided to continue within the higher education system and conduct research for a higher degree, you have other decisions to make. First you have to be accepted by a university department to work in your chosen area of study. But which university? In what area? And how to apply?

■ Choosing the institution and field of study

If you are a postgraduate who is a candidate for a research studentship, the offer of such a studentship is likely to be the determining factor in your choice of institution and field of study. You should, though, satisfy yourself on two important counts:

1 That the research discipline or area in which the studentship is offered is genuinely one on which you can see yourself concentrating very closely for the next three or four years of your life and maybe more. Many PhD students have come unstuck simply because they have lost interest or belief in the area that they are investigating.

2 That the university department in which you are being offered the stu-dentship has an established reputation in research and a real commit-ment to the development of doctoral students. You should not hesitate to ask about these issues, so important to your success, when you go to a department for interview. You should collect whatever literature is available about the department, the staff engaged in research and the precise nature of that research. Find out the departmental rating in the