Warning for prospective PhD students considering a Midlands university (TUS)

I wanted to share my experience as a current postgraduate student in a Midlands university, because I wish someone had warned me before I started.

Since beginning my PhD, I have been working part-time teaching for the university. As a postgraduate, we are limited to 6 hours per week, which is fine in theory. However, the way payment is handled has been extremely difficult.

Sometimes we are given special purpose contracts, and other times we are simply asked to do work on good faith with the promise that payment will follow. If events or additional work come up, payment can take months to process, unless a contract is specifically arranged to allow bulk payment.

At the moment, I haven’t been paid since before Christmas, and I am currently owed payment for 35 hours of work.

When I have asked about this, I’ve been passed between multiple people — including the head of department, the dean, and administration — with the explanation that the issue is with HR and a new payment system (UniJobs).

Meanwhile, postgraduate researchers are discouraged from working elsewhere because we’re expected to focus on finishing our PhDs. At the same time, we are often not given proper contracts, with the explanation that we haven’t completed our PhD yet.

The reality is that this situation leaves people in a very vulnerable position. I am currently struggling to pay rent, in overdraft because of bills, and borrowing money from friends just to get by.

The stress of trying to complete a PhD while also worrying about whether you’ll actually be paid for the work you’ve done is overwhelming.

I’m posting this not to attack anyone personally, but to warn prospective PhD students to carefully consider the financial realities and ask very clear questions about contracts and payment structures before committing.

If anyone else has experienced something similar or has advice on how to deal with this situation, I would really appreciate hearing from you.