Saturday 03 June 2023 - 5:36:11 am
Sun 03-03-2019 13:29 PM
ABU DHABI, 3rd March, 2019 (WAM) -- From establishing careers in key sectors including technology, education, and finance, to pursuing prestigious doctorates abroad and graduate degrees at Harvard and Oxford, New York University Abu Dhabi’s, NYUAD, Class of 2018 graduates have distinguished themselves as a pioneering group of over 250 men and women representing 70 countries across the globe.
NYUAD’s recently published Life Beyond Saadiyat report charts the exceptional progress of graduates from the Class of 2018 following their Commencement in May 2018, highlighting how the unique educational experience at NYUAD has inspired students to engage with innovative ideas and embrace a culture of progressive collaboration in an increasingly challenging global landscape.
The graduates achieved a placement rate of 97 percent in employment and graduate studies across a range of key sectors and global industries. Of the 50 countries chosen as destinations by the Class of 2018, 49 percent of employed graduates opted to stay in the UAE and work in 44 organisations across the nation.
Jovan Jovancevic, originally from Serbia, majored in Computer Engineering at NYUAD and is currently a Software Engineer with Amazon in Spain, said, "I see my professional journey as a chain reaction, which started off doing things I found meaningful but couldn’t fit into the bigger picture: from synthetic biology to a student-led effort in marine biology, only to find myself in the Italian mountain chain of Gran Sasso working on a dark matter search experiment.
So, taking up software engineering at Amazon seemed like it came out of nowhere. But in reality, I had grown as an engineer and a team player and through computer science and artificial intelligence classes I was more than prepared for everything I was to do at Amazon."
Meanwhile, Malu Sanchez Gomez, from Peru, majored in Economics at NYUAD, and is now a Business Analyst with Arthur D. Little in the UAE, said: "I used to think the only way to make a difference in a developing country was through an international organisation, a government position, or academia. But through my internships I realised the private sector also has a huge impact in improving the living standards in developing countries."
Seeking to enhance their academic potential and further their studies, 25 percent of the Class enrolled in graduate or professional schools across 14 countries. Graduates pursuing PhDs doubled from 10 in the Class of 2017 to 20 in the Class of 2018. Thirty percent of graduates pursuing postgraduate studies are enrolled at the world's top 15 universities according to QS World Ranking such as MIT, Stanford University, Harvard University, University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge.
Other esteemed universities where graduates are enrolled include Humboldt University in Germany, the University of Toronto in Canada, University of Oslo in Norway, and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Of the students enrolled in graduate or professionals schools, 77 percent received scholarships for their studies, including Rhodes and Fulbright Scholarships.
Interest in entrepreneurism has also increased, with about six percent of graduates being self-employed, working as freelance artists or writers, founding startups or establishing independent projects.
