Postgrad UK 2008/2009 - (Page 65) www.prospects.ac.uk/PostgradUK Science and Engineering 65 WORK LIFE BALANCE I am funding my study Computer work Amit Paleja from India studied a Bachelor of Engineering in IT at the University of Mumbai. After a year of travel around India, he took up a Masters in Internet Software Systems at the University of Birmingham. I decided to study in the UK because I wanted a multicultural experience – meeting new people with different backgrounds, beliefs and expectations. I was also aware of the reputation of many UK universities for excellent teaching and research and wanted to get the best education possible. ONLINE RESEARCH Initially, I attended the partly through savings and partly by a loan. Having to work and balance study is not easy but it is possible. I have to be well organised and manage my time effectively. I currently have two part-time jobs, one as a Student Advice Volunteer at the Guild of Students (working two hours a week) and another ‘as needed’ within the School of Computer Science as a Postgraduate Student Ambassador. I will also soon start an MSc in Internet Software Systems at the School of Computer Science. I always wanted to learn to develop web applications, so I chose this course. No other university in the UK has a complete software programme. Also, the School of Computer Science at Birmingham was rated 5 in the last Research Assessment Exercise – which is the highest rating. The Masters has really built my skills in a niche area of my undergraduate degree. I am now fully competent in software skills are I am capable of developing highly scalable web applications like Amazon, Facebook and ebay. I also joined the British Computer Society as a student member. They have lots of electronic resources that are helpful with assignments and exam preparation. Once I’ve completed my Masters I would like to work as a Web Applications Developer in the UK/EU for a couple of years. work as a Software Developer within the School of Psychology. The benefit of working within the university is that I am not on a fixed contract – my working hours are very flexible and if I am too busy with my academic studies, I can always say no. Since living in the UK, I have become more independent and I am a lot more confident when meeting new people and taking on new challenges. I like living and working in such an international environment and enjoy the teaching style in the UK. I have personally found it very easy to adapt to life in the UK. The only thing that took me a few weeks to get used to was the cold weather! Some of my friends who did find it a little difficult to settle in however, had lots of support available to them. The University has an English Language Support unit and all international students are appointed a welfare tutor in addition to the academic tutor appointed from the department. British Council’s Studying in the UK fair in Mumbai, India. Following on from that however, I did all my research about universities and programmes on the internet. I obtained a list of all UK institutions offering Computer Science and visited each individual website. I knew that I wanted a course with a software focus, so that immediately ruled out some institutions with only a small range of courses. I also looked at the research achievements of each university. Birmingham offered the best programme – http://www.prospects.ac.uk/PostgradUK
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