Get PhD Ready: An Orientation Course for New PGR Students in a Transnational Education Setting

At Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), we have a rather unique example of transnational education: approximately 750 students are studying here for a PhD degree awarded by the University of Liverpool (UoL) under a joint-supervision model. One aspect of the British-style PhD programmes that can be particularly challenging, and especially for international students, is the fact that they are pure research degrees with no taught components. In order to help support new postgraduate research (PGR) students to make the transition to British PhD life, the English Language Centre’s PGR Support Team has developed and introduced a two-week Get PhD Ready orientation course. This course consists of a series of workshops aimed at providing new PGR students across all programmes and academic units with the foundational academic skills needed to make a successful start on their PhD journey; moreover, it has been specifically tailored to meet the needs of students in our unique local context. In this chapter, we will first discuss the background and rationale for developing and introducing this support service. Next, we will introduce the course in terms of its structure, content, and delivery. Then, we will present an overview of the participation (as measured by attendance rates) and analysis of the participants over the first ten iterations of the course (March 2021–June 2023) and discuss the key findings from a survey administered to the participants. Finally, we will share our reflections on the development of the course so far and discuss potential future developments and implications for fellow researcher developers providing support to PGR students at other institutions in China and around the world.