Even though I was reluctant to embark on a doctoral programme, feeling apprehensive about my suitability for such a course as well as about my chances of being admitted, I was spurred on by some of my former lecturers and colleagues. Eventually I decided to apply to Oxford University, although I was by no means confident that I would be offered a place. As most overseas students new to the UK, I knew next to nothing about life in Britain. One of my first shocks was to discover that my command of English was not all it should have been, though I was able to get by without major difficulties. As far as my academic work was concerned, I quickly understood that my supervisor was going to play a key role in the development of my studies.
Supervisors are there to offer guidance and advise throughout the course of a student's work.
Nevertheless, I found that at times I needed to trust my own intuition and to rely on my own procedures, even in the light of criticism or, at times, mild scepticism from my academic mentor. In the early stages of my research I was slightly surprised to meet with disagreement about the working hypothesis that I had put forward as the basis for my work.