Well, here I am again. I am probably writing the last post of this studentblog before exam. I would be quite surprised if other bloggers could find any time to blog in this busy period. For me, it’s quite hard as well. But, I have just finished submitting my project progress report and I think I can have a little break before writing another report tomorrow. Oh, BTW my exam starts from 17th. Cruel, isn’t it?

I don’t think that I have written so many reports ever in my life. The good part is that it improves my academic writing skills by leaps and bounds. The scariest part in these report submissions is that few students every year are punished for plagiarism. The authority has zero tolerance on this. The department has state-of-the-art plagiarism detection software, which uses lot of statistical measures to find the originality of your report. If there is any plagiarism found, you’ll most probably fail or get very low marks. Of course, cheating is bad. Everybody knows that too. The problem is that you’re not doing any path-breaking research at your undergrad or masters, you forget to include quotations or references and bingo! You’d live the hell!

The authority knows our feelings too. The department each year tries their best (and I mean it) to circulate information on plagiarism. There was a mandatory course that we all needed to pass, after obviously thorough study of the course content. Also, we went through some lecture materials on this. There were repeated reminders about the possible dreadful course of action or how to avoid plagiarism. Project supervisors every now and then stress on the advantages of referencing. In our coursework, it is advised to follow the standard academic writing pattern with due references and quotes. Even the director of our masters program offered to help any students having questions on this. The point is that they all have utmost empathy on our situation, but a rule is a rule!

Anyway, hope we all can come out with our heads held high. Best wishes to everyone for the exam!

Well, it’s been long since the first post. As you might guess, postgraduate student life is not easy. But, one can always find some time for blogging. To be honest, I procrastinated a lot. Easter holiday is just finished and it took me the first class after break to realize that holiday is over. Mid-April to June, this short time-span is going to be really difficult for students with lots of assignment deadlines along with exam.

It feels like just yesterday when I joined the program back in September. Now, we are almost at the brink of the year-end exam. After that, it will be three more months to finish the dissertation and that’s it! Time really flows like water!

Currently, the department is reorganizing web contents across different modules – for students and staffs. This would have number of good effects on content administration and ownership. Till now, the way things are organized at the administration level, is praiseworthy. Let me give you a simple example. As postgraduate students, we had classes on either room# 2.15 or room# 2.19. The room allocation depends on the size of the class. Once the estimation of the class size didn’t work well. So, in the first day of second period, the small class got the big room(2.19) and vice versa. Before the next class, mail was circulated among students amending the change of venue.

Lab is kind of second home to all of us. Believe it or not, you can find machines available almost always, except during week 5 or 6 of each period. BTW, the whole taught module is distributed in four periods and each period has 6 weeks in total. Most of us have out-of-hours pass from the department to access lab at any time of the year. Along with lab, numerous university computer clusters and learning commons, you can pretty well survive the course without even a computer. I myself have done this for more than two months. Enough said, allow me to get back to work now. Onward, I promise to post on a regular basis. Leave you with this cool video – Sight.

It is a wonder how time flows by. Yes, I know I am not a student of philosophy :P. But just a year ago I was following these blogs to know more about student life in Manchester, and now, I am actually blogging about it! Let me start with a good news. University of Manchester recently ranked within top 50 universities in the world in the recent Times Higher Education ranking. This is the highest ranking so far for the University in this ranking system. Impressive!

I believe, many prospective students have an admission letter for the next year’s courses. They must have also received the official advice to start their Visa application as early as possible. It is the rule which must be obeyed to make your own life easy. The fact is that the visa policy is still very stringent. Please, please apply for visa with all necessary documents. If there is any mismatch, your application might be put on hold or even worse, get rejected!

In spite of all precautions and planning, some students would eventually receive the Visa very late. In case you foresee any delay that hinders you from joining the course on its start date, you should inform the University accordingly. You would require special permission from University authority to join late in the course. As far as I know, it goes to the program director for approval. Also, there is an International Advice Team af the University. You can seek their guidance if you require.

Many students, who would join next year, would be away from their home for the first time. Some of them even would board a flight for the first time. If anyone of you has fear of flying, don’t worry. In Superman’s language – ‘statistically speaking, it is still the safest way to travel’ ;). There is a movie released in 2012 called ‘Flight’ for which Denzel Washington got an academy award nomination for best actor. Highly recommended!

The same rule applies everywhere. Keep your senses alert. In doubt, ask for help. When you reach Manchester, you would surely need help. Fortunately, you will find many good samaritans around you. The UK is really welcoming when you reach here! 🙂