Author: Julia von Boguslawski

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The price of language checks for PhD’s to be raised

In the beginning of this year we rejoiced over the decision to make language checks of doctoral dissertations (both monographs and article based ones) completely free of charge. This kind of unexpected good news was a wonderful surprise for all the countless PhD students who are writing in English as a second language and worrying about getting their message through to the reader in good academic English.

Unfortunately, the association has just recently heard that the decision has been reversed. Not only will PhD students from the 1 June 2017 need to pay for the language check, they will need to pay the full price. Last year the language centre offered PhD students a lower price of 8€ / first 10 pages and 6,50€/page for the rest, but from next month we will need to pay the full price of 13,60€ / page. For a monograph of 250 pages the fee could be around 3000 €, and somewhat less for an article based thesis. Given that PhD students are already working on uncertain and often insufficient funding it is obvious that not many will be able to afford a language check in the future.

It makes no sense that the university withdraws the support for language checking and at the same time encourages us to write in English – which in many disciplines is the only sensible option anyhow. Would it not be a merit for the university if dissertations would be written in not only good, but excellent English?

The association hopes that this decision will be thought through once more, and that some form of compromise in the form of a lower price could be reached if the language check cannot be offered completely for free.

Edit: The language center will inform about the change soon, likely by next week.

Posted on

The price of language checks for PhD’s to be raised

In the beginning of this year we rejoiced over the decision to make language checks of doctoral dissertations (both monographs and article based ones) completely free of charge. This kind of unexpected good news was a wonderful surprise for all the countless PhD students who are writing in English as a second language and worrying about getting their message through to the reader in good academic English.

Unfortunately, the association has just recently heard that the decision has been reversed. Not only will PhD students from the 1 June 2017 need to pay for the language check, they will need to pay the full price. Last year the language centre offered PhD students a lower price of 8€ / first 10 pages and 6,50€/page for the rest, but from next month we will need to pay the full price of 13,60€ / page. For a monograph of 250 pages the fee could be around 3000 €, and somewhat less for an article based thesis. Given that PhD students are already working on uncertain and often insufficient funding it is obvious that not many will be able to afford a language check in the future.

It makes no sense that the university withdraws the support for language checking and at the same time encourages us to write in English – which in many disciplines is the only sensible option anyhow. Would it not be a merit for the university if dissertations would be written in not only good, but excellent English?

The association hopes that this decision will be thought through once more, and that some form of compromise in the form of a lower price could be reached if the language check cannot be offered completely for free.

Edit: The language center will inform about the change soon, likely by next week.

Posted on

Action report 2016 & three new board members

Thank you all who attended the spring meeting/social and spent a lovely evening with us!

The outcome of the spring meeting was that the board members of 2016 were (as expected) released from their duties and responsibilities. If you missed out on what the association did last year you can catch up by glancing over the action report (in English!).

There were also some changes in the board and we got to welcome a few new people into it: Jack Beresford from biosciences at the Viikki campus, and Brecht Donvil and Giovanni Canarecci from natural sciences at the Kumpula campus. Take a look at their introductions on the blog, under Board 2017. Brecht stepped in as the board’s new secretary as Fanny, who is busy working at the moment, will stay on the board as an officer. In the end of April we’ll also have to say goodbye to our membership coordinator Mari who will leave for fieldwork and continue as an officer and our Mongolian correspondent.

Posted on

Action report 2016 & three new board members

Thank you all who attended the spring meeting/social and spent a lovely evening with us!

The outcome of the spring meeting was that the board members of 2016 were (as expected) released from their duties and responsibilities. If you missed out on what the association did last year you can catch up by glancing over the action report (in English!).

There were also some changes in the board and we got to welcome a few new people into it: Jack Beresford from biosciences at the Viikki campus, and Brecht Donvil and Giovanni Canarecci from natural sciences at the Kumpula campus. Take a look at their introductions on the blog, under Board 2017. Brecht stepped in as the board’s new secretary as Fanny, who is busy working at the moment, will stay on the board as an officer. In the end of April we’ll also have to say goodbye to our membership coordinator Mari who will leave for fieldwork and continue as an officer and our Mongolian correspondent.

Posted on

Action report 2016 & three new board members

Thank you all who attended the spring meeting/social and spent a lovely evening with us!

The outcome of the spring meeting was that the board members of 2016 were (as expected) released from their duties and responsibilities. If you missed out on what the association did last year you can catch up by glancing over the action report (in English!).

There were also some changes in the board and we got to welcome a few new people into it: Jack Beresford from biosciences at the Viikki campus, and Brecht Donvil and Giovanni Canarecci from natural sciences at the Kumpula campus. Take a look at their introductions on the blog, under Board 2017. Brecht stepped in as the board’s new secretary as Fanny, who is busy working at the moment, will stay on the board as an officer. In the end of April we’ll also have to say goodbye to our membership coordinator Mari who will leave for fieldwork and continue as an officer and our Mongolian correspondent.