A few weeks ago I ran into an experiment-stopping complication and won't be running experiments until after we get back from Europe (late September). I had expected to be running that experiment in endless fashion, seven days a week until we departed in August. Since then I've made arrangements so everything will be ready to start up again when we return but stopping abruptly has left me with a strange feeling. Since I can't collect data right now I've been writing my dissertation general introduction and so far the work is slow but I feel positive about what I'm putting on paper. We'll see what my advisor thinks when he reads it. My goal is to have a full introduction and methods draft to him before we leave for Europe. So I've been writing and consequently reading to make sure that I've included all the appropriate information in each section. I've also been working on my volunteer hours - as scholarship holders Tim and I are both required to volunteer 150 hours each year. During the first year I did the usual and took on tutoring and marking (grading) to cover most of my hours. By the end I vowed to never do that again. While I love teaching the labs here are absolutely uninspired and painful to teach. I can only imagine how the students feel. In addition the marking is probably the worst. Grading hundreds of papers consisting of the worst grammatical errors you can imagine is enough to put anyone over the edge. Tutoring is so miserable, in my opinion, that even if I were getting paid it wouldn't be worth it. With that said since I have to volunteer the time I REFUSE to tutor. Period. That has forced me to look elsewhere for volunteer opportunities. Thankfully, during this second year I became Vice President of the Postgraduate's Student Association and that has given almost have a year's worth of hours and my second year only started in May. During my time thus far with PGSA I've had the opportunity to meet and work with students from different levels, campuses and walks of life. I've also had the chance to work on specific issues that directly affect postgrads. This already has been an infinitely more meaningful (and more enjoyable) way to fulfill my volunteer requirements and so I feel very fortunate to have found this niche on campus.
One issue that I'm particularly interested in relates to international students and the policy governing their student visas. From the beginning, when Tim and I were admitted to VUW we were given an 'offer of place' and a scholarship to cover three years of study (this is the standard timeframe for PhD in NZ). This is all good in principal if a PhD student simple had to submit his/her thesis and then depart from the country as his/her visa would be expiring. The problem is that when students submit their theses for review (at the 3 year mark) they still have to wait for the thesis to be examined and then participate in an oral defense (this process usually takes 3-6 months). Since the student visa was originally issued for three years it expires before the student can finish up and defend. With the current framework students need to apply for a visa extension so they can remain in NZ to defend their theses. This is problematic because after students submit their theses they no longer have their 'student' status (are no longer enrolled) and this further complicates the process as they are applying for a visa extension (because, according to Immigration NZ policy, anyone applying for a student visa must be a student). Since students lose their status upon thesis submission these applications for visa extensions are only considered on a case by case basis by Immigration NZ. Ludicrous. Currently, there are 400+ international PhD students at VUW so this affects a significant number of students. With that said I'm working with several groups to gather information and discuss with Immigration NZ as well as the powers that be at VUW how we can address this issue. I suffer no delusions that I will solve this problem but I do think it is an issue worth pursuing and am excited to be involved in the process. And all the time I spend in meetings, reading policy or drafting documents I can use as volunteered time. For the win!!!
This has been a bizarre post but all that to say that even though I've been spending time looking into visa policy instead of collecting data it has still been worthwhile. It just hasn't been what I would've expected as a part of my time as a PhD student. :) Here's to learning continuously!
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