Hajira goes to Oxford

I am a 26-year-old woman from a Pakistani family. I was recently accepted at the University of Oxford to pursue my masters degree. It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to attend such a prestigious university.

I hope to study MSc in Modern South Asian studies - a unique course that would serve my curiosity for knowledge and allow me to make contributions in academia, pursuing scholarly work in the future within the framework of global context and content on South Asia.

I knew how expensive Oxford would be, and was hesitant to mention the application process to my father (who has always been my role model) until the day I got accepted. He was, of course, delighted to hear the news.

Unfortunately, I was not eligible for scholarships for my course and the savings that I have can only accommodate my yearly expenses while I am at the University.

So far I have spent 6 years in Istanbul, Turkey. Starting as an international undergraduate student and paving my way into a professional career is a life learning experience, with a mix of pleasure and frustrations.

As a student, I worked multiple part-time time jobs, learned Turkish language and received scholarships based on academic merit. Therefore, my experience in Istanbul allowed me to build sustainable relationships in the society, paving my way into a smooth transition to work as researcher in TRT World(Turkey’s English state broadcaster) with South Asia as my focus.

If I'm not able to pay for funds, I will have to turn the Oxford offer down. Therefore, paying for my tuition is another hurdle I have to jump. I am willing to do this with even more effort than I have put in past five years to pursue my goals and build a strong future for myself and the people around me and my global community. I really hope with the help and generosity of the people I have known over the years, I will be able to take this next step on my journey and reach the goal of raising 23,950 GBP to pay my tuition fees over the next year.

My Oxford degree will provide me with a better scope to understand the region of South Asia, and as mentioned, through the qualification I will be in a very strong position to conduct research and scholarly work on the region from a global perspective. I intend to pursue my career path towards research, writing and teaching with due course in time.

I thank you in advance for your support.