Doctorate in New Zealand or how to go to the ends of the earth

Not once did I see published articles on the Megamind about the admission to a doctoral program of foreign universities, and finally I decided to add my experience to this piggy bank. From February 1, I will begin my studies as a PhD candidate in the electric power industry at Queen Victoria University, which is located in the capital of New Zealand - Wellington (Victoria University of Wellington).




Briefly about your academic and professional past. I graduated from my university in a specialty program (5 years), majoring in Electrical Equipment and Ship Automation in 2012. At the end of the fifth year I received an invitation from a major oilfield services company, where I started my work in December of the same year. At the same time, he went to the magistracy in the direction of "Power and Electrical Engineering." That is, in fact, he worked full-time in the company of watches and studied full-time in the magistracy, which he successfully completed in 2014. I worked with hydraulic equipment, and I would continue my work activity, but in 2015, after all the financial turmoil in the country and my company, I decided to return to the field of electric power industry and electric drives and I quit to continue my studies in the doctoral program. Even before signing a contract with my employer, I saw two options for the development of events: either an academic environment or a field of research and development. In both cases, I needed a doctoral degree, so with the onset of a crisis in the industry, I decided to follow this path.
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I had my own reasons for not writing a Ph.D. in Russia (although I was offered), so after my dismissal from my office, I sent my feet to Moscow to pass IELTS and prepare for the move from the country. After receiving my results after two weeks (L7.5 / R7.0 / W6.0 / S6.5 / O7.0), which were enough to enter the university, I still decided to go on language courses in NC, because I had to improve the spoken and written part, and in general I understood that it was necessary to leave the country, for motivation let's say so. And now, two months after receiving the exam results, I was already in New Zealand, in Auckland.

Fully omitting the moment of training in language courses, I began to search for a place for my new training. In general, I considered the universities of New Zealand only as a spare airfield after Australian universities, but it turned out how it happened, and not to say that I am not satisfied with my place of residence at the moment. It is worth mentioning that I had savings, but not enough to pay for 4 years of study in a rather expensive country like New Zealand. Therefore, the only option was to receive scholarships. Actually, I signed with a professor from the University of Auckland (University of Auckland), who invited me for an interview. Interview with him, mandrel research proposal, then his refinement and a new one. Sending documents, resumes, diploma translation, motivation letter, English exam results, letters of recommendation. As a result, after some time I received Offer of place. The problem was that there were no scholarships, because I was late with the summer round of scholarships for doctors. The variant proposed by the professor was as follows. Start studying, pay for the first year, and then apply for a scholarship. Doctorate for foreigners costs the same as for local 7-8 thousand NZD. However, accommodation costs about 15-20 k. Therefore, as you understand, the option is very risky, if you fly with a scholarship, it immediately turns out that you find yourself in a rather heavy financial trap. Anyway, it was a start. One option, though not the best from a financial point of view, has already been.

Then I interviewed the manager. Department of Technical University of Auckland (AUT). The conditions are about the same, but instead of a scholarship the rates of the teacher and the researcher at the department. However, given that the university is quite young and not listed in international rankings, it was decided not to waste time writing a proposal. At the same time, I came across a project from the Robinson Research Institute, which works together with Queen Victoria University. The standard procedure is to send a letter to the professor and after a couple of letters he gives the nod to the application. Everything is more or less standard and includes the following documents:
1. Letters of recommendation. Both from my department are from the head of the department and his deputy, both are past supervisors of my graduation projects. Nobody called them to check their authenticity, so normally written letters should suffice;
2. Expression of Research Interests Form, actually your cover letter. About the same letter is usually sent to the professor. Why chose this university, project, etc .;
3. Qualifications and Experience Form. Academic and professional past, articles, conferences, other merits;
4. An example of your academic letter (article) in 2000 characters. I sent around 1700. There were no extra questions.
5. Transferred diplomas and attachments to them;
6. The results of exams in English. Most universities require an average IELTS score of at least 6.5 and not less than 6.0 in each of the parts. But there are always exceptions like Harvard and Oxford.

I prepared the documents and sent them a week before the latest date, which was July 1. During the year, three dates for sending documents for admission: March 1, July 1 and November 1. A month later, the professor wrote to me and said that my application is now being considered by the application committee, and he should conduct an interview with me to give them recommendations. It was decided to conduct a telephone interview, but because of his trip to Australia, a senior researcher interviewed me from that same Robinson Research Institute. As it turned out it was there and with him I will work all this time. About an hour on the phone and encouraging words that it will take another 4-5 weeks to wait for a decision. And actually a month later I received a letter saying that I was given an Offer of place & scholarship. The doctor’s scholarship, as in all NZ universities, is 2000 NZD. Not the golden mountains, but it is quite possible to live, if not major. Further application for a visa, travel, registration of student documents and waiting to start work.

I would be very happy if this article gives you an idea of ​​a doctoral degree in the NZ, especially since this experience is applicable to many other countries. If you have any questions on the topic, I will be happy to answer them.