What To Expect
From studying for a doctoral level degree at King’s
UK higher education aims to encourage critical thinking in researchers. As a postgraduate research student, you are expected to challenge ideas and not to take them for granted. If you are to be a critical thinker, you have to be able to develop your own perspective, always supported, of course, by the best available evidence. So academic debate is encouraged, and you should not feel that it may damage your relationship with your teacher or supervisor.
One of the purposes of UK higher education is to develop your ability to work independently on complex tasks, since this will be very useful to you in your future life, and the supervision you receive will be critical in developing this ability.
Emphasis is far more on students learning – and learning to learn - rather than being taught.
Although not all postgraduate research students will be aiming for a career in academia, you should view higher education in the UK as a journey towards the point of an academic, and should expect that independence in learning and critical thinking will be increasingly present at higher levels of study.
Please see our document What To Expect From a Research Degree at King's for a more detailed account.