17.12.2006
Education Discussions for Students
Both of my parents graduated with B.Sc's at RASU, my father in the late 1970s, and my mother in the early 1980s. But my mother could not get a foreign college degree equivalency in the U.S., probably because the educational system had deteriorated so much within a few years, while my father could.
You should continue studying in Singapore if you want your degree to matter.
Hintha
I got a degree called B.Com here in Myanmar. But I am not interested in accounting and I am working as an Administrative assistant in one NGO. I love it. I work with orphans and I am really interested to study more which I can apply for my people. Like community development or education or may be public administration. but i don't know public administration exactly. Anyway, i don't know how do I find my interest. I am not interested in US at all. because I got scholarships in one of the US university and i didn't get the visa for twice. So, no more for US. but I want to try something which i really am interested. Also, I don't have enough fund to pay for my study. I need scholarship!!!
Nway Nway
If you are involved in politics and has done something for your country to get freedom, flee the country and get a refugee status in Thailand. There is a scholarship programme waiting for people like you. You need not pay any dime for the programme. Once you get there you will get the information what you need and you will experience the taste of freedom.
Aung Zaw
I think you should think of what do you want to do in your life. Do you want to lead a professional life: accountant, engineer, manager, doctor, dentist, lawyer, technician, journalist etc... Are you going to work as academics: professor, lecturer, post doctorate, fellow, etc...? Or are you going to depends on trade skills: secretary, electrician, plumber, welder, etc...
Moreover it also depends on which field do you want to choose, soft core social sciences (linguistic studies, policy studies, political science, etc..) or hard core natural sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Maths), Engineering, professional (law, medical or business management).
Where do you want to work and who do you want to be will ask for different sets of skills. But major requirements are simple: ability to speak, write and read English and ability to think critically, rationally, logically and sometimes innovatively. But don’t interpret an academic degree either basic bachelor, advanced Masters or post graduate PhD degree as a direct entry into a profession. A person who earns a PhD in Electrical Engineering is not a practising engineer yet, and in some countries a Bachelor from its top tier university will not entitle them to practise as a professional engineer. It is more restricted in some professions such as Law, Medicine, Accountancy, etc... You need license to practise from professional bodies and they have to go through several professional license exams such as USMLE, MRCP, Bar at Law, CPA, CFA, PE (professional engineer) etc... In my opinion, hard core subjects are easier for you to get a job later.
But if you still prefer to follow some soft core sciences, you can follow studies in public policies, administration, political science, economics, etc...
Regarding Public Administration and Policy studies Lee Kwan Yew School of governance at National University of Singapore offers two types of Master programs and it has extensive partnership with KSG, Harvard. If I were not wrong, MPP is for younger, academic savvy candidates while MPA is for mid level older (less academic but more case studies and soft core executive Master) programs. It has LKY fellowships (which pays up to 5000$ per month plus condominium accommodation and there are two slots for Burmese among other ASEAN nations. Your competitors for that two slots are among public servants from Burma.
I am not sure NGO folks are eligible for this but if you hold responsible position such as project manager, department manager, general manager, director, leader, etc... And if you have delivered results and reputable NGO, you could lose nothing in trying it.
For MPP there are Themasak scholarships and loans. It is to compete with ASEAN and regional candidates (from China, India) and international (Europe, USA, etc..) but there are about 2 students from Burma per academic year.
Or get a soft core Master in human rights education (if your NGO is in that field) then go to UN universities world wide. Check http://www.unu.edu.
If you still want soft core studies, check International University of Japan for its international policy studies www.iuj.jp. There are several students from Burma won scholarships; competition is local among able Burmese. So is ADB scholarships for studies in universities in Asia Pacific region.
If you are really good, get into top universities like Cambridge University in UK and you can get scholarships from Gates foundation. Age cap is 30 but it is not black and white, you can try even if you are above 30.
Soft core social science qualifications could help you to continue your career with NGOs but above qualifications will hardly give you any job in host country: MPP from NUS for Singapore or UNU in Japan, etc.. Unless they have a lot of NGOs based in their country.
Hard cores studies can get a lot of scholarships and job opportunities. You can get MBA at AIT in Bangkok or AIM in Manila, NTU in Singapore and University of Aukland in NZ, etc.. And there are more than 1000+ scholarship bodies for hard core studies (life sciences, engineering, technology, natural sciences such as mathematics) but competition is global. You have to fight for admission and scholarships with fellow professionals, students from all brain exporter countries: India, China, S.Korea, Malaysia, Philipines, etc.. and citizens of those countries who earned their first degrees in good overseas universities: for example a Chinese national who earned a Master of Engineering from UMIST, UK to compete for a scholarship for Master of Engineering by Research degree in National University of Singpaore: M.Eng from UMIST is a 4 years integrated under graduate masters degree while M.Eng from NUS is a 2 years graduate Master degree equivalent to MSc by research from UK unviersities.So you have to understand your degree first.
Just a simple advice is know who you are, what do you have (your high school, college, graduate school academic grades, scores, performance), where do you want to go (which industry to work, private or public, blue or white collar, etc..), how can you go there(I hope my essay helps you), what do you need to carry (learn more, gain experience in some field, get professional certificates, sit and get highest GRE, GMAT, LCAT, TOEFL or IELTS scores, etc..)
Aung Kyaw Soe
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