December 18, 2017, by Lisa Chin
PhD in Multicultural Malaysia and UNMC
This post is written by Mariam Altaf Tarar, PhD student from the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, and edited by Dr Lee Jiin Woei, Research Training Development Manager.
A PhD degree is getting more common day by day. The number of doctorate is increasing worldwide with time. However it does not mean that obtaining it has become an easier task whatever the place, university or field. At the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, the system and its facilities are supportive of the individuals who want to contribute in their respective fields. The students face many challenges and stress phases like in any other part of the world but Malaysia is a multicultural country consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races. Malaysia is warm and welcoming to many people from all over the world for education and tourism purposes; so it is interesting to see many nationalities on one place like the Malaysia campus. Any foreigner student would surely learn from this exposure. So as a whole there is some unconscious social learning which becomes part of life experiences. Students learn social skills by observing so many different people from different parts of the world, their culture, practices and values and indeed these are important too. The great lesson through this campus experience is that its system ultimately results in people building respect for every individual’s ethnicity and values. This learning should be promoted in institutes all over the world. Personally I find that the racism and individual ethnicity are not a problem here, although the opposite is reported in may worldwide news and social media recently. Every individual is equally respected and gets opportunities. The university system provides many different platforms to intermingle with many people who are from different fields and cultures. Therefore, in a PhD, it is also interesting to see research students from different parts of the world contributing their ideas from their personal experiences and background. So this also encourages versatility in the overall research contribution.
Featured image: Mariam presenting her research at UNMC 2017 3MT® Competition.
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