ALUMNI INTERVIEW

After you graduate from Raffles University, where do you further study, and what programme?

After graduating from Raffles University, I decided to further study for my Master’s Degree. Now, I am studying for my Master’s Degree in Cognitive Systems at Ulm University in Germany.

What makes you choose your current postgraduate after graduating from RU Programme?

I chose this postgraduate programme from Ulm University because I really wanted to study abroad to experience another culture, mingle with people from different countries, and know what is happening in another country. Also, my course related to Artificial Intelligence, deep learning and machine learning. As you know, these topics are quite hot at the moment. Therefore, I think I made a good choice.

How has the RU programme contributed to your application for overseas postgraduate?

A very good strength of the RU programme is that they are MQA accreditated. When I was applying for my Master’s Degree, I had to tell them that my course was valid, and all I had to do was send the MQA accreditation certificate, and then, it was all done.

What you have learned in the RU programme has also contributed to your overseas postgraduate study?

I think I have learned a lot at Raffles University. I remember we had to prepare man presentations, and we had to give those presentations to many people. Once, we even had to prepare a seminar talk to the public. Can you imagine that we as a student had to give seminar talk to the public. But, that was good actually, that was a precious experience.

We also had to prepare tons of reports, and we have dealt with lots of projects during our study. Those are really good and valuable experiences that help us move further in our professional lives.

Another good point is that we have learned a lot of statistics in our Bachelor’s studies, and we had three subjects during the Bachelor’s programme. This is really good because you have to be proficient in statistics when you further study for a Master’s Degree.

What is the strength of RU?

As I have said before, I really appreciate that our psychology programme has three statistics related subjects. In fact, our RU psychology programme is enriched. It has a variety of psychology topics, including abnormal psychology, industrial organisational psychology, cognitive psychology, abnormal psychology and even counselling. Other than a good variety of psychology topics we learn, we also have a different approach to learning them. It does not happen all of the time, but we were brought to field trips occasionally. This field trip has the concept of learning that is not limited to the classroom only. We learn from outside. We apply the theory we have learned in the classroom to the outside world. We went on a field trip to factories, cafes or whatever you can imagine. 

A plus about the learning environment of RU is that it promotes interdisciplinary collaboration. I had the chance to work with a design student on a project, and I also had the chance to work with some business students for clubs and social activities. This is really helpful for me because when I first came to Germany, I realised that there are lots of interdisciplinary programmes here in Germany. When I first came here,  I was shocked because communicating with people from another discipline is not easy. But, I had this experience working with design students as well as business students, so that really helped me a lot.

How has RU’s life has assisted you in adapting to overseas postgraduate?

During my RU life, I have learned many things to help me to adapt to my postgraduate study here. For example, I have learned how to use SPSS, kind of like the most basic statistics software, before I can advance to another programme such as Rstudio. Other than that, I have also done lots of scientific writing. I had many reports to submit. That was really helpful because now, in postgraduate, you also have to write reports and submit many reports. So, that was like a good practice before.

Other than that, I also think that RU is really good because you do not only learn to write individual reports, you have to work with others. You have to work with others to give presentations, write reports, or do research, which is a good soft skill to have teamwork and communication skills.

Another thing is internship because the internship is compulsory in RU, and I find that really good. The internship is the only way to get practical experience during your study.

What is the difference between the life of study in overseas postgraduate and RU?

Well, of course, there are many differences between studying at RU and studying in Germany. First of all, I am a foreigner here. So, I have to deal with the bureaucracy and settle my residence permit, insurance, etc. Those things take up quite some time, making my time management here quite challenging compared to back in Malaysia.

This brings us to the second point here. I think the programme organisation at RU is much better as compared to in Germany. This is because here in Germany, they are doing things quite flexibly. The study plan will vary according to the professor. But, in RU, typically, you will get a study plan. It will tell you that for this subject, you have to write a report, you have to have a presentation, and then an exam, so then, you finish everything, then you pass. But here in Germany, most of the time for a typical subject, everything the grade is on the exam itself. But, in RU, you can diversify the grade; some belong to the project, some belongs to the exam. But here in Germany, everything is just the exam for most subjects.

And the third point is that it is a big plus for Germany postgraduate programme or Germany programme generally because Germany is a developed country and it is like the front line of science. All the professors that I have dealt with are great scientists, they know how to do a proper study, they know how to design the experiment perfectly, and they have great equipment here.

What is your planning after graduating from overseas postgraduate?

At the moment, I do not have a long term plan yet. But, I will try to look for a job after my graduation, maybe working in Germany for three to five years at least and see what comes later. I want to work here because I have some working experience here. And I find that people take professionalism seriously. They really work professionally. They do everything with work ethics. I really want to experience that more and of course, so to say that get some overseas work experience.

Share something with others who might be interested in proceeding with overseas postgraduate?

So, if you want to study abroad, I have some words for you. Firstly, Keep Learning. If you keep learning, the sky is the limit. From my interdisciplinary experience, I find some biologists switch to psychology. It seems that there is no limit at all. Just that, if you keep learning, you can do whatever that you did not even imagine before. So, the sky is the limit.