Tag: Motivation

Posted on

The Stress and Success: South African Shares Postgraduate Experience

A South African shares in relaxed tone, her experience studying for a Masters degree. In Nigeria & else where, the postgraduate research stress of choosing a research topic, proposals, laboratory & field work and many others are very similar. Article was originally posted on Sayas

 After the First Storm

I was born in the Eastern
Cape, to parents that are both educators. Which kind of explains why I love being in the know. They gave me the name Siphokazi, which directly translates to “a very big gift”

Awesome is it not? I guess that is what I am to the Nyeleka family, my clan. Growing up, my siblings and I were not allowed to be without a book (school books didn’t count!) and school was non-negotiable, unless of course we were feeling under the weather.
My parents have always encouraged me to pursue postgraduate studies – following in their footsteps. So by the time I graduated with BSc Animal Production Science, I needed very little encouragement to continue with my studies. I was already hooked by academia! With the final persuasion coming from my supervisor, I decided to enrol for an MSc degree in Animal Production Science with special interest in broilers.

Why broilers? You may ask… Well, back in the day my grandmother ran a poultry farm for more than a decade, but she had to shut it down due to ever rising feed costs. The whole experience was frustrating for me because I watched her let go of something she truly loved, particularly because she used the farm as means to give the village women financial security. So when the opportunity came for me to try and find alternative ways to help people like my grandmother, I grabbed it with both hands. Thus, my MSc research focuses on using alternative protein sources in broiler diets, with the ultimate goal of feed cost reduction.

To my surprise, though, the whole process of developing a research concept has been very challenging for me. Developing a proposal was supposed to be as straight-forward as writing that final exam at the end of the year… What I found to be exceptionally challenging was that I knew what I wanted to do, however developing a research concept around it was very tricky. How could I distill my thoughts into an idea that was testable, workable, valuable, in the space of a single degree…?

What kept me going back to the drawing board was and still is the ultimate goal and that is to make a difference. Giving up would not only be letting myself down, but my grandmother too and that is something I would never be able to live with. I guess it is true that “ Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain, ” because the happiness I felt after an approved proposal is beyond description.

My second year promises to be an interesting adventure, with more trials and some lab work. I look forward to it, really. Do I still think I can solve the world’s problems? Yes! But like RJ Benjamin says in one of his songs “Changing the world, One day at a time…” I guess in my case its one broiler at a time.

Posted on

My Third Class Degree from UNILAG Turned Out to be a Blessing

Toyin Odutayo, an Information Technology executive, who had her postgraduate studies in the UK, shares her inspiring story with The Nation News.

Get motivated in your postgraduate educational pursuit, it’s not over till you win.

JOURNEY to the UK in search of knowledge

One of the reasons behind me doing a master’s degree was because I didn’t do too well in my undergraduate studies. I made a third class. I had always been one of these people that sort of looked at myself and felt the need to differentiate myself. I had always been ambitious, so I said let me go and do this master’s while I am more matured and focused, knowing what I wanted in life.
I got into London South Bank University and I did a master’s in Information Systems Engineering. That was one of the most focused years of my life, because I knew what I wanted. I knew the impediments, given that I had a third class from my Nigerian degree. So I told myself I have to do really well to make sure that moved forward. So I had an MSc with distinction and literally that was what opened all the doors for my career advancement in the UK.

What I did differently

I will be brutally honest here. I also had a part time job while I was doing my master’s. What I did different was that I just read. Having said that, when I was in UNILAG, I noticed the time I was focused, I did very well. I was young then. You get into the university at 16 or 17, you want to play. So what was different was that I was completely focused. I knew what I wanted. I knew that to get a really good job, something should set me apart from the other applicants. I made my distinction and it really opened up lots of doors such that when I put in an application for a job, when I look at the ratio of rejection from when I had a third class to the number of  rejections that I had with having a distinction, it was crazy. Literally, if my CV goes anywhere, a door would open. I also feel that God was really on my side.

Programming Experience in the UK

I had a good project manager who looked at me after I had been in the UK for about three months and said I could be a team leader. I was in my early 20s and I didn’t have as much experience as the people on my team. What he explained to me was that there are people who are destined to lead and there are others who are destined to just be developers. I worked as a team leader for a company now called EDS for about two and a half years and I left to work in the retail sector. From team leader, I became a project manager by the age of 25. Having realised that somebody could have that confidence in me and realised my capabilities, I made a conscious decision to keep reading up and trying to make myself different. The Internet wasn’t rife then, so I just found myself investing in self-help books, and then I moved into the financial service sector and became a systems integrator. Again, I did that for about three years in the UK. I stayed in the UK until 2001. I was in the UK for about 12 or 13 years.

Returning to Nigeria, a sanity break

After working in the financial services sector, I began to get itchy feet. So I decided to leave the techie world behind to go for an MBA. That has to be the hardest year of my life. What made it challenging was that I am techie born and bred. With techies, it is bits and bytes whereas in the business world, one plus one equals two, but it could be two in a bit or slightly less than two.

Going into business school was also my turning point. So when I left Nigeria in 1989, I left with the mind of going for five years, but five years became 12 years. The reasons why that was is because it was just very easy to go into the UK and fit since I had lots of Nigerian friends.  Although that ‘fit’ will always be fit in quote, because you look at your skin, you are a black person. No matter how English you try to sound, you are still a Nigerian.

That realization hit me when I did business school, because there were many of us who came from Ghana, Namibia and other African countries. The kind of things they were talking about going to do back home prompted me, and I was like oh my God, I need to go back home and do something too. That was the turning point really.

I wanted to make a difference and I know that would not be made working in the UK. I was brought home by the late Osaze Osifo, former MD of FBN Capital. I knew that after spending so many years in the UK, I would need the sanity break, and that sanity break was coming home to Nigeria.

My experience coming back home

I turned my back on the UK and came to live in Nigeria, and I have no regrets. I moved into Oando as the head of IT. It was extremely challenging. I would go in and talk the talk, but I am actually a leader by example. I strongly believe that your followers will have confidence in you if they see that you have proven experience and you are not afraid to get your hands dirty if you have to. I am an ED now but I still get my hands dirty. Not everyone has to be a leader that leads by example, but I think for me, that is what works and that is what has always worked.

On the cultural shock when I came back, I am a Nigerian at heart. I may speak English in quote because the first 12 years of my life I spent in the UK, then I came back to spend another 10 years of my life and I went back to the UK. Coming home, I was not expecting 22/7 power. I was not expecting the roads to be fantastic. In fact, I think one of the turning points was when I came for my mum’s 60th birthday and that was when I was like you know what, Nigeria is not so bad, because we were trying telecoms wise.

The biggest challenge for me with Nigeria was more communication rather than the power sector. In my own case, I was pleasantly surprised because when I came home, I was able to get a flat that didn’t have a 24 hours light but I was able to have light most evenings. This is the thing that I tell people that want to relocate. When you left Nigeria, how was Nigeria? Yes, you may have risen to a level where you can stay in an estate that has 24 hours power, but that is not reality. That is not how Nigeria is. So if you can just get your head around that.

Career transitions and challenges in the IT field

From Oando, I was approached to go to Virgin Nigeria, and that was like to be one of the pioneer people. I always like startups. Yes, I want to do things for myself, but I also want to make a difference in Nigeria. It is good to be part of a movement, pretty much like what we are doing in Wakanow. In the whole of my career, I have been a techie person; the only things that are challenging are the materials things. We need power to run. And again, because I’ve got varied experiences, I tend not to have people challenges. I think it’s because I am a reader. If I have a challenge, the first thing I will do is pray and then there is a book where somebody has gone through that challenge. So by the time I read how somebody overcame that challenge, it is usually very easy to resolve.

When you build up to a level that people have confidence in you and they know that when you go to complain or talk about a challenge, everyone knows that the challenge is genuine. When I was younger in my career, if I had a challenge, would rather go and meet my mentor. Before I take up the challenge of heading an organization, I have mentors who I could talk to and ask questions. It is all about what I call effective networking. I may never have met someone before, but I will look for someone who knows that person and say look, this is the role that I am going to take, I need help. I just need someone to sound me out.

Wife, mother, woman

I honestly don’t believe these days that Nigerians believe it is a big deal for a woman to be something. I have gone to so many women conferences and I see so many amazing women around. I think it is now becoming the run of the mill for women to succeed in their careers and businesses. You just need to look at Ibukun Awosika for instance. She is a major role model.  Some of these things were instilled in me when I was growing up. You can still manage your home, be a good wife and a good mother. Not everybody has the same resources, but there.
Source
Pic Source

Continue reading “My Third Class Degree from UNILAG Turned Out to be a Blessing”

Posted on

THIRD CLASS? DON’T GIVE UP, YOU CAN EVEN BECOME A PROFESSOR

Graduating with a third class degree  is a tough reality, better imagined  than happening. But when it does happen, well, pick yourself up. Third class graduates can get to the top, and even become professors in academia. Yes, you heard it clear ‘PROFESSOR’

But before you get carried away, here are few steps you can take to get to yoir desired top

  1. Postgraduate Diploma: Take a postgraduate diploma course in your chosen area of interest. Now, take the course serious because its like a remedial for the not-too-good third class. Postgraduate diploma brushes you up intellectually and otherwise. In Nigeria, postgraduate diploma takes one year averagely.
  2. Professional Exams: Professional courses like ICAN, ACCA, PIMP, MSCE etc, can be equivalent to a bachelor’s degree if you do the exams to the highest level. With this, you can go ahead for  a Master degree and even earn scholarship. Your professional certificate would erase any stigma of third class degree.
  3. Foundation Master: This is done abroad, and is similiar to postgraduate diploma. Student lacking academically take the foundation masters, and later convert to the master degree programme. They can go on to study for a Ph.D.
In all these steps above, third class graduates can bag a Ph.D, work in an institution and eventually become professors.
Posted on

2016/17 CHEVENING SCHOLARS AWARDS CELEBRATION

Chevening scholars award

It was an evening of excitement and celebration as successful as 2016/17 Chevening awardees from Nigeria mingle with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, and past Chevening Scholars from Nigeria.

The Chevening Scholarships are the UK Government’s overseas scholarships, awarded to individuals with demonstrable leadership potential who also have good academic backgrounds. The scholarship not only offers financial support for people studying for a master’s degree at any UK university, it also allows beneficiaries become part of an influential global network of 46,000 alumni. In 2015, 45 Nigerian benefited from the fully funded scholarship.
Leadership Newspaper reports that people who had made it to become Chevening Scholars were being ushered in, some with their guests into the residence of the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency Paul Arkwright.
Omoboyowa Roberts, one of the beneficiaries of the 2016/17 Chevening  Scholarship, told LEADERSHIP that, “this for me is a dream come true, something I had always looked forward to even from my university days. I am going to be studying, Masters in Peace and Development at Leeds Beckett University.

“I think it’s a global opportunity to meet with other scholars and to be a part of the alumni, and above all to be able to get the investment where you can come back and develop Nigeria as a whole, so, it’s been a fantastic opportunity, and I am happy to be privileged to be a part of the global network,” she said excitedly.

This year, Nigeria had the most applications for Chevening scholarship, about 4000. The High Commissioner also stressed on the importance of funding the programme so that more Nigerians could be beneficiaries as he called on the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to encourage their best to apply for a Chevening scholarship, as the scholarship needs more people in the civil service and government sectors.

Big names such as Channels television’s John Momoh, Nigeria’s Comptroller general of Immigration and many more have benefitted from the awards, including the Ministry of Foreign affairs Permanent Secretary, Audu-Rafiu Olusola Enikanolaiye. Supporting the network would in turn not just aid social networking, but provide opportunities for future generations of Nigerians.

A Chevening Scholar, with an offer at London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine to study Health Policy Planning and Financing, Chinwe Chikwendu, said “Perhaps why I am actually most excited is because it’s not just me, from my family here tonight, my younger brother happens to also be a beneficiary. We are going to the same university; we are going to do the same course, so I bet you this goes to show the level of transparency that is actually applied in the Chevening scholarship selection, because if there was any other thing that is considered then both of us would not be here tonight. I want to say, a big thank you to UK government first of all for the Chevening scholarship scheme, because this is just something very wonderful that has really helped so many people achieve their dreams, it is also something that has given many people the opportunity they had never really imagined they would get. So it’s something really wonderful, and I think the best way to reward the British government and Chevening, is for us to go out there to the UK and make the most of the opportunity.

Credit: Leadership News

Posted on

FUNKY-FRIDAY: THE PHD MOVIE

Getting a PhD, especially in Nigeria is known to be rigorous and stressful. But between the course of the study, we can still have fun, moreso, when it inspires us to strive on to get the PhD. Enter in- PHD MOVIE.
The film, The PhD Movie is produced by Jorge Cham and focuses on the lives of four postgraduate students as they navigate the tricky world of post-graduate education. The cast, setting and plot feel authentic; and virtually all the actors are actual graduate students. The movie was shot at the California Institute of Technology.
The Nameless Grad Student and his group must travel to an important academic conference and square off against a rival group as they compete for results and grant money. Meanwhile, Cecilia’s advisor is going on sabbatical, which means she has to finish writing her thesis or be stuck in grad school another year. There are some great lines throughout the movie, such as when The Nameless Gradaute Student explains to his father, “I’m basically paying the university so I can do free work for them.” The target audience is of course students that can identify with graduate school life; however, the humor, quick pace, and convincing acting ensure that the film can appeal to just about anyone.

Struggling with a work-life balance, uncertainty about the future, and deflated expectations are all parts of life that we have to deal with. Add to that an unimpressed advisor, failing laboratory equipment, and a lack of academic job openings, and you’re talking about grad school.

Sometimes the best ideas arise when we are distracted, so the solution to your academic problems could be a bowl of popcorn and The PhD Movie. Enjoy!
You can stream the video by clicking here
Excerpt here
Photo source www.phdmovie.com

Posted on

POSTGRADUATE PLANS IN 2016

It’s the dawn of a new year, and many have made resolutions towards a change they desire. It is important to note that, “he who fails to plan, already plans to fail”. So I ask, what are your postgraduate plans for the new year. This post can act as a guide.
  1. Pick a PG Form: Make up your mind now, save ahead and begin to browse in preparation for the sale of postgraduate forms for your desired school. Don’t let job, family, finance hinder you this year. If you need advice on PG school choice, ask here, and we can help.
  2. Round up your course work/project: This is for postgraduate students already. Prepare a time line of daily/weekly/monthly activity you would engage in to complete your work. I understand how stressful it can be, but plan for the best. For PhD programme, plan ahead to avoid the stress of discouragment that comes with such lenghty programme.
  3. Apply for Scholarship: I would advice every postgraduate student to actively search and apply to the various scholarships, grants, student exchanges and fellowships that abound. Many Nigerians are currently enjoying these benefits, especially women. Go to online directories, send emails and ask question. Some scholarship opportunities will also be posted here.
  4. Impact your World: What’s the purpose of a postgraduate degree that has no impact on society? Your learning should make the world a better place. As you bask in the sunrise of a new year, what would be your meaningful contribution to society by year end? Food for thought.