Text and Event in Early Modern Europe (TEEME) – (Ph.D.)

Contents

The research and skills strands will run side by side throughout the three years, though greater emphasis will be placed on the acquisition of study skills in the first half of the doctorate, while research activities will be more prominent in the second half of the programme.

Semester 1
The first semester will bring the entire cohort together at the University of Kent. In the two compulsory modules (‘TEEME: Theory and Practice’, and the supervision seminar) students will work in teams based on their mobility choices for country 1 and meet twice a week as a group throughout the whole semester. Alongside these seminars they will have face-to-face consultations on their pathways with their Kent advisor (or their supervisor, if Kent is one of their mobility choices). They will also meet with other Kent research students in the ‘Research Methods’ module focused on subject-specific skills, and choose among the many workshop options on generic and transferable skills offered by the Kent Graduate School.

Semesters 2 and 3
Students will move to their first place of study on 1st March for semesters 2 and 3. In the research strand they will obtain, across the two semesters, credits for a formal presentation in a research seminar (5 ECTS), an end-of-year progress report (10 ECTS), and work on the preparation of the formal thesis (15 ECTS). Students will be strongly encouraged to undertake a research mission to one of the TEEME-associated academic partners in semester 3.

In the skills strand, students will have the choice of at least five elective modules or special skills courses, all weighted at 5 ECTS. Students will have been guided in their research plans towards the modules that best address their specific training needs. Over the two semesters they take a minimum of three modules/skills courses (worth 15 ECTS), and a maximum of five (worth 25 ECTS).

The remaining credits (minimum of 5, maximum of 15) can be obtained through the online discussion forum which students will set up in semester 2. This platform will lead to an online workshop on self-chosen topics in semester 3, with the aim of producing a coherent electronic research output. Participation in the online workshop, organized centrally each year by one of the consortium partners, is mandatory and worth 5 ECTS. Students can obtain further credits through online publications: either a series of three linked reviews (5 ECTS), or a scholarly article (10 ECTS). All electronic publications will be peer-reviewed and formally assessed by members of the consortium universities.

Semester 4
In semester 4 students will either move to their second place of study or remain at University 1, depending on their placement choices. In the research strand, they will continue work on their thesis and demonstrate the advance of their research in an end-of-year progress meeting. In the skills strand, they will undertake a work placement in one of their two chosen places of study. Formal agreements with the non-academic associated partners will specify the terms and conditions of each placement. Information files containing a job description, specific learning outcomes, and language requirements will be made available to all students through the TEEME website. Individual placement arrangements will be flexible regarding duration and nature of employment. Students will work an average of 180 hours per placement over the course of the semester.

By the end of the semester students are required to submit a reflective report on their work experience (which will be formally assessed), addressing the link between their research project and the nature of the placement. These reports will form the basis of the student-organized work placement panel at the annual October conference, through which information on the students’ work experience will be fed through to other cohorts.

Semesters 5 and 6
Emphasis will be given to the completion of the thesis in the final year of the programme. In the research strand, students will acquire 60 ECTS over two semesters for evidence of substantial advance in their writing. For each of the two progress meetings, they are expected to present newly written parts of the thesis (chapters or sections of chapters) of about 20,000 words in length. In the skills strand, students are invited to follow any of the elective modules or special skills courses at their second place of study on an optional basis.

Over the whole of the programme, students will need to obtain a minimum of 180 ECTS to be eligible for the final examination of their thesis. 120 of these credits will have to be acquired through the research strand, 60 through the skills strand. Students may acquire further credits and have these formally acknowledged in their transcripts.

Faculty

Why choose English at Kent?

We couldn't think of just five ...

1. Our students find jobs. 93% of our students graduating in 2008 had found employment or went onto further study within 6 months of leaving Kent. Our modules teach key skills and attributes to equip students with the tools they need to conduct research, solve problems, communicate effectively and transfer skills to the workplace.
2. Our students are happy with their degree. We achieved a very high rating of 90% in the last National Student Survey and we are aiming higher next time.
3. Excellent international opportunities to study abroad. All students can choose to take the year abroad option with their degree. The year abroad can be spent in one of our 10 EU destinations or one of our 16 US destinations.
4. Our curriculum is broad – we offer courses ranging from Chaucer to David Mitchell (Mitchell also did his English degree with us, Chaucer did not)
5. You can tailor your degree to suit your interests because of the research strength of our staff. In the last research-quality assessment our staff came 18th out of 87 departments submitted; a tremendous achievement. This level of research excellence is reflected in the enormous range and quality of the modules that they are able to offer incoming students.
6. Our department’s creative work is internationally recognised: they have been nominated for the Booker Prize, and The Orange Prize. We also have a John Llewellyn Rhys prizewinner and a Time Out ‘Book of the Year’ writer.
7. English at Kent provides a supportive and high quality student experience. The University was ranked 15th in the UK in the 2010 Times Higher Education UK Student Experience Survey, this reflects the quality of experience we aim to provide. Our excellent pastoral care system ensures that our students are supported throughout their entire student experience.
8. Our students write for the University newspaper, for the Creative Writing Society, for the English Society and for any number of the competitions run annually on the campus or locally
9. You will probably do better than you expect to do. In the Guardian University Guide for 2011 we scored 8/10 for value added. This is the score they give that compares students’ final degree results with their entry qualifications – the highest score they give is 9.
10. We are located in a beautiful and self-contained campus which overlooks the city of Canterbury with excellent transport links to London and mainland Europe and a variety of bars, shops and even a nightclub.
11. 1-2-1 essay feedback. We pride ourselves on giving one-to-one feedback on coursework essays submitted during term-time.