Meet our International Ambassador: Muhammad Ali Rashid

Name: Muhammad Ali Rashid

Department: Chemical and Biological Engineering

Hi there, my name is Muhammad Ali Rashid, I was born in Pakistan and for the past two years was living in Nairobi, Kenya. I completed my IGCSEs in Pakistan from Lahore college of arts and sciences (LACAS) and did my A levels from Hillcrest International Schools in Kenya. For A level my subject choices were physics, maths, chemistry and biology.

From an early age I was attracted towards the field of engineering. I always questioned everything, how was this made? What’s in this? Tinkering away with everything I could get my hands on. This interest grew with time and by reading and watching all about the cool science stuff. I chose Chemical Engineering as it is one of the most versatile fields, gives you a chance to work in many big industries. It satiates my thirst for knowing how something is made. The course is also quite closely tied to biology which is my favourite subject (Surprisingly not chemistry). I want to be able to help come up with new viable energy solutions and chemical engineering gives me the exact chance to do so.

Choosing your University is a very important decision that plays an integral part in shaping your future. There were many things that factored into my decision to choose Sheffield. Firstly, the fact that it is part of the prestigious Russell group of universities, comes as a top 100 university in the world and is highly ranked for engineering. It is renowned for its research power which is something that interested me greatly. The fact that I would be studying in a Nobel Prize winning department excited me. The thing that got me the most was the diamond building. An 81 million pounds multidisciplinary engineering building. It has state of the art labs and facilities. Now that I have come to Sheffield I can say they were not exaggerating! The labs are like those out of sci-fi movies and there are so many great facilities.

Another reason to choose Sheffield was the city and the university's international outlook. The city is one of the safest in the country and full of friendly people, greenery and students. The university offers a humungous amount of societies to join and every week a plethora of give it a go events are held where u can go and try out new things. The university life is made easier by the fact that there is excellent support for international students, there are so many international students and societies that you quickly make friends from back home. Furthermore, the students’ union is the best in the UK, voted as number one for 6 years in a row. It’s a modern building which has everything for you in one place.

My Experience so far has been great, I have already met so many top companies and employers, started doing actual lab work and become part of something much bigger than myself. I feel I made the right choice coming to Sheffield and enjoy it so far.

My advice to prospective students would be to be bold, experiment and be adventurous while you have the opportunity to be so. Never be shy of asking what’s on your mind and when searching for universities make sure to talk to current students, read university blogs or watch videos about the university don’t always follow the website/ rankings there is always more to a book than what’s on its cover.

The Journey to Sheffield

First of all, let me introduce myself, my name is Yehya ShamsEldin. You guessed right, I am an Egyptian. All my life has been in Egypt. Since day one in school, I liked maths and how I can manipulate numbers in a useful way. Of course, I loved engineering thanks to my dad and it became my dream to be an engineer in my early stages at school. I worked hard in IGCSE so I can get the best grades for universities in Egypt. Yes, I did not think about studying abroad at the start and that is why I think plans are a waste of time - the best happens to you without planning. The whole idea of studying abroad came from my brother, because he is an engineer too, so he laid out on the table the thought of me to do something different. At the beginning, I wanted to go for Civil Engineering like my dad and brother. In year 12 I started to apply for universities in the UK as a valid option which I could choose at the end, because it was hard for me to think about leaving all of friends and family in Egypt and start a new episode of my life in the UK, but still it was a serious option. My grades came out in August and before that I was holding conditional offers from more than one university, but my main focus was on The University of Sheffield because I took the decision to go for Mechatronics if I traveled because I love anything to do with automation and robots. I also found that The University of Sheffield has the best Automatic Control and Systems Engineering department in Europe. So, my main focus was on it, and I accepted the offer. Then the struggle of the VISA happened as my first VISA was refused, so everything got mixed up because it was already late for another trial, and it was really close to just dismiss studying in Sheffield and staying in Egypt. But I decided to have another go and the VISA got accepted, hence I arrived two weeks late at the university.

Of course, I struggled at the beginning of my course because I missed the start and I still got lost in the city, but honestly the help I received from my colleagues and lecturers made everything much smoother and it passed. That’s why I chose The University of Sheffield, because every survey of student’s experience came as number 1 on all universities and that’s the most important thing, to receive the appropriate help, so you could operate within the new environment quickly. Besides, the education and the facilities here are amazing. It helps you to be 100% functional and come out with the best. In addition to this, the city itself is so good and easy to get around, and people are so friendly.

There is a lot of independent learning, but that’s a key teaching method because the knowledge you gain will never be forgotten. Labs here have really good equipment kits which are fully upgraded to the world technology, and that’s important because as an engineer you need to innovate at each stage in your career.

After I finish my degree I want to work back home in Egypt, in one of the Aerospace companies or Bioengineering industry because that’s what I like the most. Then who knows, maybe one day I could come back to UK for extended studies or doing business here.

As an advice, keep taking pieces of advice from everyone and filter it at the end of the day, because everyone in here tries to help. Try to use the university facilities to maximise your skills and develop other skills too that will be valuable for your career. Keep joining volunteering events and work, because it is a sign you are a good person to work in a group and it is good for your CV too.

Finally, of course if you are an overseas student try to not mess up the VISA and try your best to get it from the first time, because it is a frustrating to have a visa refusal, but try again too even if it got refused first time. The most important thing is the bank statement and the CAS statement from the university as an advice.