Omar Javed, PhD student and ESKAS scholaship holder

Omar Javed is a Pakistani PhD student at the Faculty of Informatics, and winner of a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship. Read his inspiring story.

Hi Omar, could you please introduce yourself?

“Hi Arianna. I feel honored to share my experience with the people reading this newsletter. I am from a city in Pakistan which is quite hard to describe in a few adjectives. Though, you can aptly sum it up by saying that it is one of the world’s largest (population and area-wise) cities as well as having high temperatures almost throughout the year. I was born and raised in this city which is Karachi. I graduated with a Masters degree in Computer Science from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, in Karachi. I then began my Ph.D at the Faculty of Informatics in September 2015. During the past two years, I have been working with some truly outstanding individuals who are quite inspiring and motivating which helped me evolve as a person.”

You won a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship: how did you learn about this scholarship program?

“After completing my Masters program, I was in search for a PhD opportunity. During that time, my wife got an admission in Masters program in Université de Genève, which motivated me to look for a position in Switzerland. I looked for scholarship opportunities in Switzerland and found out about Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship through a website. Interestingly, if you google Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, you’d be amazed to find that it is one of the few prestigious scholarship programs along with US Fulbright and UK Chevening.”

Why did you choose USI?

“I chose USI because of my research interest which was being conducted here. My PhD supervisor has excellent expertise in designing some state-of- the-art software. During the time I’ve spent here, I have access to software, hardware, books, research papers as well as journals which facilitated my research work. I believe my training here has given me a solid foundation for a career in industry and I’m so glad I made the decision to come here.”

What are the main differences between your country of origin and Switzerland?

“Culturally, the two countries are quite dissimilar. If we look at the area and population-wise, Pakistan is quite big compared to Switzerland. However, GDP per capita of Switzerland is almost 12 times than that of Pakistan, which means that you will make almost 12 times more money if you are in Switzerland. Switzerland is famous for its natural beauty, but Pakistan also has some miraculous, breath-taking beauty of its own such as “Aansu Lake”, a lake shaped like a tear drop which is at a height of 16,490 feet in Kaghan Valley. Pakistan also has Trango Towers, the tallest vertical mountain in the world, along with four of the 10 highest peaks of the planet, making Pakistan the ‘rooftop of the world’. One could also find an archeological site for one of the oldest civilization - Mohenjo-daro (4500 years old). The music of Pakistan is also very diverse influenced from vari- ous parts of South Asia, Middle Eastern and modern-day Western popular musical styles. To get a taste of Pakistani music, I would recommend the readers to go on YouTube and listen to the song “Afreen Afreen”.”

How did the ESKAS Scholarship affect your life?

“Receiving a scholarship makes a big impact on any student. For me, this scholarship is about evolving as a person. This scholarship has changed my life, making me more optimistic towards the future. I am more confident now of achieving my goals. This change in me has come with the support of ESKAS Scholarship and I hope to do well in the future years to come.”

Your scholarship is finishing soon. How would you characterize your experience?

“My experience up till now has been great, both professionally and personally. Professionally, the learning and experience gain has been exponential in nature. This realization brings so much of fulfillment and satisfaction, and perhaps the fuel for doing greater things later on. Personally, I not only had the wonderful opportunity to work with experts, but also meeting people with diverse background, learning about the other cultures which has made me realize that we may look different, but we are quite similar.”

What are your plans for the future?

“My goal is to contribute in the field of computer science that can be beneficial for not only Switzerland and Pakistan, but for the world. I know this can sound clichéd but this PhD has motivated me to act more like a Global citizen than a Pakistani citizen.”