My Experience As A Chevening Alumni

Ghizlane Zouaï is an experienced educator, committed to excellence in education through technology with a strong track record of delivery. She has extensive experience delivering ELT workshops across Algeria and abroad, as well as a significant work with job seekers and entrepreneurs. 

Ghizlane holds a B.A in English from Saad Dahleb University. She has recently graduated from Newcastle University with a Master in Education and Technology. She has also followed various training courses in management, web analytics, web-journalism, and in writing for the web.

She is on the cutting edge of art and everything that relates to. Ghizlane has photographic skills and had been invited to participate to two exhibitions. Additionally, she jointly worked with one of the iconic journalists at Radio Blida, Ilyes Belabes, and they collaboratively started Get The Lingo, the fist English show on air.

Chevening Scholarships is a fully funded one-year master’s degree in any subject at any UK university for outstanding graduates & professionals from all over the world.

Why did you choose Chevening Scholarship?

Not a hard decision to take! 

Making my mind up about the Chevening Scholarship was quite easy. I mean there are a myriad of opportunities for Algerian youth abroad but you should be selective and look for excellence. 

When I did a desk research about the Chevening Scholarship, few words echoed more than others did. Words such as prestigious and quality higher education. The combination did not only seduce me but I thought it would be a real boost in my career prospects.

So, if you're willing to gain a sound experience as a student in the UK, Chevening is THE best option for you.

What do you study in your master?

I've to say this at first! Many people asked why I've not chosen Oxford or Cambridge.

Let's say it this why, all UK universities are excellent. So avoid these stereotypes and, if selected, go to the university that best meets your needs and not just the name. 

In my case, I've been to Newcastle University where I've graduated with a Master in Education with Technology. I've also co-worked on developing the Digital Principles online course in collaboration with the Open University in Tanzania. 

Newcastle University has one of the leaders of cloud education; Professor Sugata Mitra, who lectures there and Dr James Stainflied who is specialized on ICT learning. 

Surprisedly enough, I've discovered that Martin Luther King studied also there.

WoOoW! The man who spoke out for freedom and equality of Afro Americans in the US was a knowledge seeker at Newcastle University. I do not know but I was very proud, as if I've studied at the same university as Ibn Khaldoun.

What is the added value of this program in your career and life?

Remember, I've said prestigious.

All the Chevening fellows are real active leaders in their countries, respectively. In our network, we count for this year 3 Prime Ministers in Asia and 2 Presidents in Latin America. Additionally, regular events will be organized where you will mix and mingle with well-known international leaders.

Volunteering there was again a life changing experience. I worked as a Library Assistant at the Kittiwake Trust Multilingual Library. The only one in Europe, as far as I know, and its patron is the famous David Crystal .

Guess what! I learned a lot about other cultures and had free access to books that come from around the world. 

Professionally, you can apply for a part-time job while in the UK. 

                     

What kind of challenges did you meet? 

Only one! Writing over one 4 thousand words was a challenging.

We'd to write essays and do projects as part of our evaluation. It was not easy for me because in Algeria we're not used to write long extensive dissertations.

You shouldn't worry, though. There are online courses that would show you how to do it, add to the university's free face-to-face courses for students to prepare them ahead of the exams. This service covers also other exam preparation. So everything is planned in advance to facilitate the transition. Allowing you to gain similar skills and be on the same stand as other international students. 

And tell you something, now I got used at writing long texts. I bet this blog is a proof of my new ability to organize my ideas and present them in a clear and comprehensive work.

What are your tips to 2020/2021 applicants?

My tips are the following :

Follow BLINDLY the Chevening application calendar: It's so realist and matches most of your other applications or tests such as the IELTS test and university unconditional offers.

Be concise and relevant:  when replying to the essays, try not to use long introductions because you've only 500 words. So try to follow the bellow example of one paragraph:

First sentence should contain one idea. Give an example then explain it further with illustrations.

Thus when you reply to the first question, for instance about leadership, you main have 3 main ideas written in 3 paragraphs.

You will have also questions about building network, your major and your objectives.

IELTS: don't wait till last minute to do the IELTS test. Try to do it in advance so you secure your score and then your place at your chosen university.

If you are shortlist for the interview: please review again your essays. This will help you to better reply. Again, your answers should be brief and to the point. I think you should use the STAR interview technique. It's helped me to be more confident and relevant.  Most importantly, an interview is set to just meet the person and see how s/he reacts and/ or reflects to things. So relax and be positive :)

The best tip I may give is to show how what you will learn will help you when back to our lovely country, Algeria. 

Last Word J

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to chat with the UK Embassy on their Facebook page as they are, as far as I know, quite active.

You can also email me here g.zouai2@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer all your queries.

I wish you will have the same experience as I did and experience the higher education in the UK.All the best of luck ;)

The idea of the article was born here in Social Media Camp Algeria on April 13^th ,2019

Ghizlane is one of the most inspring women in Algeria and she is one of the changmakers who works actively with youth to implement projects and initiatives J

Very honored to have her today as Guest on Salma Share

Good Luck to Applicants 2020/2021

Apply to Chevening Scholarship before the deadline  November 5th, 2019

And follow Ghizlane’s valuable advice, Start NOW

                 

Schlumberger the Faculty for the Future Experience

Ayesha Majeed

Lecturer at BUITEMS University, Pakistan

Currently pursuing her PhD in Fog computing, UK

2018 TechWomen Fellow, USA

Ambassador of SingularityU Quetta , Pakistan

Member of SACNAS , The National Diversity in STEM Conference

Member of Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)

Passionate about start-ups, education, innovation and women leadership

Schlumberger Foundation The Faculty for the Future program, awards fellowships to women from developing countries to pursue PhD or Post-doctoral research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at leading universities worldwide.

Why did you choose Schlumberger the Faculty for the Future?

I was always certain that if I wanted to pursue higher education, I need to be persistent and determined to achieve my career goals. Being  woman, my journey of success has many ups and downs and receiving this award is a great honor for me. It tells me that I am having the potential for the future of our society to empower women and be empowered as a leader.

Indeed, I am representing my country, and often, people will remember my country before my name. But they’ll also remember that I am an FFTF awardee and that’s worth it. 

What do you study?

I am currently pursuing PhD in in Edge/Fog computing from Queen’s University Belfast, UK. With the advancement of mobile devices and technologies, the software for these devices is getting more and more complex too; from self-driving cars to Internet of Things, the mobile devices have to process enormous amount of information.

Processing this information within the device becomes challenging and time consuming. It will be impossible to only use existing techniques, such as only a centralized cloud data center, for processing large volumes of data and requests from sensors, tablets, mobile phones etc.

The purpose of research is to develop a rapid system that processes data geographically closer to the mobile devices rather than via the "Cloud" to improve the Quality of Service of the application.

What is the added value of this program in your career and life?

The benefits of availing this award are exponential and have a ripple effect on my PhD and career.  I now believe that there are numerous options that are open now and  I feel that whichever path I choose I have the confidence, skills and motivation to succeed. 

Pursuing a PhD is beyond acquiring specialized knowledge in my field. It includes benefits of problem solving, critical reasoning, thinking in depth from different angles and perspectives. The other advantage is from a social perspective, that includes the development of social skills such as communication and presentation skills, building personal relationships; and societal recognition. The last value from the personal development perspective such as the development of perseverance, and persistence.

What kind of challenges do you have?

I belong to one of the underrepresented areas (Baluchistan) of Pakistan. The visibility of Baluchistan women in education is very low with 70% of girls dropped from school. Women in our society don’t get enough opportunities for basic education due to problems like financial, tribal, social and political hardships. Gender difference is also a great problem.

In STEM-related fields, due to lack of opportunities and mentorship female face multiple hurdles and having the advice of a woman who has already “been there, accomplished that” can improve the potentials of women new to within their fields to remain the course and see that success is possible.

Could you tell us about the application process?

The application process of FFTF is a three-step process:

The first stage is the submission of online application form. The candidate must fill all the requirements of the online submission form which includes application form, reference letters and admission letter. The application will be selected based on the candidate academic performance, quality of the research proposal and its benefit for the home country, global leader influencers to influence women to pursue a career in scientific discipline.

Once a candidate has fulfilled all these requirements in the application form. In the second phase, the shortlisted candidate will be called for the interview. I rehearsed my answers (thinking I was smart enough to anticipate the questions) which I thought will be asked from me I did not had idea what sort of questions are going to be asked I searched online.

In the third phase, candidate will be notified for the selection of the award. During this whole process the wait was almost unbearable but ended up being rewarding and became one of the best experiences as the outcome was positive. 

What are your tips to 2020/2021 applicants?

The first tip I would like to give is to show passion for empowering other women in technology and to uplift the issues of your country and this must be reflected in the essays.

Research Proposal for this scholarship is very important firstly it justifies the necessity to study the research problem and its benefit for the home country. The research proposal must demonstrate the issue clearly, concisely and critically and its benefit for the home country.

Start early because the application form for FFTF is lengthy and time-consuming. During the process of applying to this scholarship, I revised my application around 21 times.

Related to the personal statement everyone has their own unique story and be yourself while writing the personal statement. Your story must reach the person, and they will feel it, connect with it.

 I hope this will inpsire someone who is sitting behind the screen and considering applying for this opportunity.

Happy to receive my TechWomen friend Ayesha on Salma Share to tell us her story in Schlumberger Foundation the Faculty for the Future.

Good Luck to Applicants 2020/2021

Apply to Schlumberger Foundation the Faculty for the Future before the deadline November 7^th ,2019

And fellow Ayesha’s priceless tips , Start NOW

                            

My Phd in Malaysia

El Amine Mohammed Ould El Hadj 

25 years old, IT Engineer and Video-maker

Who loves traveling and trying new experiences … from where came the

#Eldoitall concept

Euh! I have a master in computer science (option academic) from Kasdi Merbah Ouargla University

Currently Phd student at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

Why Malaysia?

I love food … and believe me you’ll love that country for more than that 

First, I have never been attracted to Asian countries .For myself; I always considered Europe or America as THE PERFECT PLACE TO BE in.But my mother got me a flight ticket for my birthday … and guess what?!!!

It was 16 hours away, with two stops to reach Kuala Lumpur the night of my 22 birthday.

From there I just liked so much the country  J

The people 

The atmosphere 

The technology 

And most important how the life was simple J

What language do you use?

Apa Khabar ? Or How are you ?

Either English spoken by more than 80% of Malaysians (even the most isolated places) or the Bahasa Malayu that you ‘ll learn in less than a year living with locals.

I worked with a pure Malay team for more than 2 years 

And also got involved into activities with my University campus (UTMKL) 

And after 40 days going to the restaurant and ordering the same thing 

You get obliged to order in Malay lol

So yeah ! I would say ENGLISH 

Ps : you’ll use your French to speak to the 4% French tourist you meet maybe !

Tell us about your PhD studies

For a PhD at the UTMKL (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur),I  got into Artificial Intelligence more specifically Geolocation and Geo referencing systems. 

Yeah it sounds hard if you never heard about a GIS or a Mapping System Interface 

Or simply GPS (yeah we make you GPS experience easier)

This was because both my bachelor and master subject was related to this topic.

I could not find the right support to get into the same subject for a PhD in Algeria, but Malaysia offered many solutions .

Moreover, because I like coding and following data on ground, yeah that was why I chose this field for my PhD project.

Also looking forward for one day to improve the GPS experience of Map used in Algeria.

What do you learn during your PhD?

Once I got my master for me PhD meant more studies … but I was wrong!

I got to learn so much.

I really like the research part the Lab job and the experience of teaching students in secondary teacher duty.Yeah I experienced being in front of hundreds of students who would copy exactly what you teach them on their notebooks and come after the class asking you sooooo many questions.

Also I got to work with an amazing team of teachers and mentors (like I call them) who helped me with coding sometimes but also who guide me to improve my skills in anything that would make my journey easier. 

I also got to work with different nationalities and learn about their education systems. 

For the academic part, I learned so much about the electronic components (something that I really hated back to university days).I become more confident when it comes to programming on Arduino and Automated cards.

What did you get from the Algerian University?

I always told myself that university doesn’t give you enough to learn

But only enough to write.

The Algerian university where I got to study helped me develop skills that I never used during the 5 years of studies but I realized how much they are important  because I use them currently in  my daily life  and even in my PhD classes.

So thanks for that point who made me always wanna learn more and not wait for the teacher or the class to tell me what to learn  J

You should learn for yourself

Believe me it’s much easier than you think!

Did you meet challenges?

Any student going to study abroad gonna face so many challenges.

It may start from what to pack in your luggage to how to live your first month in an unknown country far from home culture.

Some of those challenges are : 

THE FOOD : You have to get used to spicy and fried .

The transportation: if you wanna save money choose your way.

The language : repeating something 3 to 4 times is common in Malaysia don’t worry J

Renting : if you wanna rent an apartment or a room, they may decline you just for the nationality !

Home sick : it’s not easy living 12000KM from home, neither getting a fly ticket to visit more than twice a year.

Hard studies : even if you study 24h/day its not enough (you paid for that opportunity so make it worth it)

What are your perspectives? 

For the short term , I would say get a PhD then start the project I’ve been working for more than 2 years now.

I also aim to  involve myself into empowering the Algerian Youth to boost themself into the world best spots and career. We really have so much potentials that are just laying down here waiting for the right time.

And I wanna help the max of those outstanding youth with high potential J

My last word

For all the students who wanna go to study abroad

First step and this is the most important 

Why you wanna go abroad?

If the answer is just going out the country … just go to Tunisia for couple days and comeback to your normal life. 

By that I mean, you need to have a clear goal about the country, your aim and more important your studies .

Then all the rest is quite easy :)

If you want to come to Malaysia

Be sure of one thing 

It won’t be easy … not because it’s hard 

But because you’ll have to motivate yourself every day and every moment to reach your goal and not waste your time and money. 

You need to prepare yourself very well

1-     Certify your English level through an international test. For me it was the ILETS (with a good score >5)

2-     Then check your subjects for master or bachelor degree on the Malaysian Universities Database .This will help you find the perfect fit university for your field.

3-     Contact at least 3 universities (this may take some time or some weeks) and wait for an answer

4-     Translate all your paper (Diploma ,Certificates …) to English

5-     Then scan them .

Then once you get the  OK!

Here comes the easiest Studying Visa you may apply for, with a perfect follow up from University side or from the Malaysian embassy in Algeria. 

So if you are self-motivated with good marks from your baccalaureate till master or bachelor class  ,you’ll have a pretty nice life of student in the cheapest and most affordable quarter of the earth J  

For every student who wanna study in Malaysia 

I would be more than happy to help and show the roadmap to that 

You can catch me by email : amine.medoeh@gmail.com

On Instagram: @Slaveux 

Or even by Facebook: El Amine Mohamed Ould El Hadj

GOOD LUCK :)

The idea of the article was born here in Startup Weekend Ouargla on November 10^th ,2018…Amine is one of the most active youth in Algeria .

 I’m so happy to receive the man who keep sharing his experience wherever he go J

Salma Share is delighted to have Amine as a special guest to talk about his Malaysian experience J

Good luck Amine in your Phd project and Youth Empowerment activities J