Ahmed RasheedPHD STUDENT ( MONASH UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA)

M.S CIVIL ENGINEERING (UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO, JAPAN)

Outlineo MEXT Scholarships

o Scholarships in Australia

o Dealing with Professors

o Research CVs

MEXT Scholarshipso This special program offers non-Japanese students an opportunity to work toward Doctor of

Engineering (3 years) or Master of Engineering (2 years) degrees

Featureso Lectures and research guidance in English

o Interdisciplinary program

o Admission based on the evaluation of the documents submitted by the applicants

(You don't have to take Regular Entrance Examination)

o Free basic Japanese language classes for the students and their spouses

o Students awarded the MEXT scholarships are exempt from the entrance and tuition fees

Benefitso Basic Monthly Stipend

◦ 144,000 yen for Masters◦ 145,000 yen for Doctorate

o There is also additional stipend for designated areas mainly as research stipends ranging from 2000 yen to 3000 yen

Scholarships•MEXT Embassy (10 awarded every year)• Deadline: March/April every year • Application: Apply directly to the embassy of Japan in Pakistan• http://www.pk.emb-japan.go.jp/Education/ReserachScholarship.html

•MEXT University Recommendation• Various university programs in Japan are allowed to recommend a certain number

of students

• ADB (Asian Development Bank)• 2 years work experience required

• University of Tokyo (Masters and PhD)• Dept. of Civil Engineering• http://www.civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/FSO/prospective_students.html •Online Registration period : 20 September 2013 - 15 November 2013

• Dept. of Urban Engineering (Masters and PhD)• http://www.due.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/admission/ • Deadline: November/December every year

• Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (Masters and PhD)• http://www.sustainability.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp• Deadline: November/December every year

Scholarships

Japan• Hokkaido University (Masters and PhD)• e3 program (English Engineering Education Program)• http://www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/e3/admission.html • Deadline: November every year

Scholarships

Scholarships in Australiao Endeavor Awardso International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRS)o Australian Research Council (ARC)oFaculty Funded Scholarshipso Etc

Scholarships• Australia• Endeavour Awards•Masters and PhD• https://aei.gov.au/scholarships-and-fellowships/pages/default.aspx• Deadline: June every year

• IPRS• International Postgraduate Research Scholarship• Automatically considered for a scholarship once you apply for admission.

Scholarships Australia• IWC Scholarships• International Water Centre• http://www.watercentre.org/education/programs/scholarships/iwc-scholars

hips • Deadline: July/August every year

• JASON• Postgraduate Scholarship Database for Australia• http://www.jason.edu.au/ • www.phdseek.com

IPRS Fundingo The International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRS) program is funded by the Australian Government, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR)

o The scholarships are available for a period of two years for a Masters by research degree or three years for a Doctorate by research degree

o The IPRS program enables international students to undertake a postgraduate research qualification in Australia and gain experience with leading Australian researchers

o These are not general but university based scholarships

o Benefits:oTuition fees coveredoHealth cover costs

oExperience is not a requirement

Requirements for IPRSo You are normally required to have completed a research project, component, subject, or group of subjects that accounts for at least 25% of one year’s work at Honors level to show research ability

o Relevance of Degree for proposed program

o Preferably secured position in 80-100% grade level

o TOEFL/ IELTS

o Research Proposal

o Statement of motivation

o Recommendation letters

o Deadline for this year is 31st May 2014 to receive the result before 31st July 2014 for University of Melbourne

General Application Requirements for most Scholarshipso CV (preferably research CV)

o Study Plan

o Transcripts

o English Proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS)

o Finding a professor

Dealing with Professorso A very important step to get scholarships

o This can work in any country for securing scholarships or professor’s funding

First finalize yourself your interests◦ Interesting subject/s in your degree in which you are strong◦ Your final year project◦ Your semester projects◦ Specific skills

◦ Programmer (certificates, projects)◦ Passion to make ideas and conclusions after reading of many research

papers of professors whom you applying

How to find a professor?◦ Find a university you are interested to study at (QS-THE world university rankings)

or a where you have targetted a scholarship to apply to◦ Find the list of professors there

Now go thorough each professor websites and find the professors whose lab is working more relevant to your interests◦ How to find relevancy ?

◦ By looking at the lab projects or research ◦ By finding with professor name on google his recent research papers

◦ Choose one professor to contact at one time from your list of professors in the same deparment of same university

◦ Because if you email many professors of same department at same time, then they can get negative impact about your research intentions.

Email him with ◦ Research CV◦ Cover letter (Email)

Important Points in these Emailso Subject of Email must illustrate interest and must not be vague

o Refer to points and cases that show your motivation to join the group

o To summarize, don’t be overly generic

o Attach CV and ideas about your expected research area

o Don’t be informal in expression

Research CV Final year project Semester projects Internship experiences Job experience Skills Education

Where is the difference ?

Differenceso Description of projects (final/semester)

◦ Explaining more like a paragraph by explaining the whole method how you did it,and what are the results you obtained, any improvement or novelty, rather than just mentioning the techniques you used.

o Explain internships and job experience fully in a paragraph ◦ Techniques, tools and algorithms you worked on

◦ Results obtained

◦ Did implementation

Differenceso Relate your written projects/experiences in some way if you can, with professor’s area.

o Bring those projects/ experiences above than other in CV

o If your relevance with professor research area is strong, then you can even give reference with professor’s work in that specifc paragraph in CV. This will have much impact

Documents required for applying

Personal Statement/Statement of Intent/Statement of Purpose• A brief description about:

• Educational Background

• Motivation to pursue a certain course at a certain institution

• Professional and research experience and how it relates to your interests

• Extra curricular activities

Documents required for applying

Personal Statement/Statement of Intent/Statement of Purpose• It is one of the most important documents

• Market yourself as a product:

• Why they should prefer you over all other applicants - “market yourself”

• Writing skills~ Never make even a single spelling mistake

• NEVER copy and paste a personal statements from the internet~ Catastrophic

Documents required for applying

Personal Statement/Statement of Intent/Statement of Purpose• Many samples available on the internet

• Get it checked and rechecked by various people with good writing skills in English.

• Use mostly simple vocabulary~ No need to show off

Documents required for applying

Research Proposal• Mostly required if you apply for a PhD

• Adds value to your application for a master scholarship as well

• Does not mean you certainly have to work on your proposal, you can change your topic once you enter the lab. (Proposal writing skills)

• A good proposal can increase your chances of getting a scholarship

What do you need to get a scholarship?o A really good CGPA

o Research background - Publications

o Language skills – IELTS/TOEFL

o Recommendations letters

o Voluntary work

o Co-curricular activities

o Technical skills

Benefits of a scholarship Knowledge gained

Access to the international work market

Traveling

Cultural Exchange

Personal Assistance If you have any queries please contact me at my email id: ahmedmirza87@hotmail.com

Skype assistance: scholar.guide

Summaryo Do a lot of research to find out potential scholarships as a huge pool of scholarships is out there

o Try to produce some research publications

o Just prepare your documents

o Adjust them according to the need and type of scholarship but keep the basics intact without changing the scope totally

o Pray for success and eventually you will prevail

ANY QUESTIONS?