The LUMS Alumni Office joined hands with the Career Services Office (CSO) on the evening of Thursday, February 2, 2017 for a session on the academic prospects for students and alumni in Australia. The gathering was led by LUMS alumnus, Dr. Omar Mubin, BSc 2004, who is currently a senior lecturer at the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics at the Western Sydney University in Australia.
With over 150 students and alumni in attendance, there was interest and attention galore towards Dr. Mubin as he took the stage to share his journey of scholarly pursuit. He opened with an overview of his journey from getting an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from LUMS, to an ensuing MSc from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and a PhD doctorate qualification in Human Robot Interaction from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He shared that prior to arriving at the Western Sydney University as a Lecturer, he had also worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher at Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.
With regard to his unusual and fascinating scholarly path, Dr. Mubin expressed that he could not adjust to the way of life in Europe and this lead him to Australia. “The take-home lesson of the day is that everything happens for a reason,” he said. “If anything happens in your life that you’re not happy about, there’s always some good reason behind it and you should stay positive about the eventual outcome.”
After sharing a wide-ranging perspective on how life for Muslims and Pakistanis is in Australia, Dr. Mubin then went on to inform the audience about the pathways of academia available to them in Australia. All eyes were on him as he stressed that the most important aspect of pursuing further education there is making sure you apply to a university that offers the finest and most relevant programme for you.
“What they look for is a natural progression related to your previous studies,” Dr. Mubin said, outlining that the wisest choice is for students to apply to areas directly related to their education thus far.
He gave an overview of options for both Masters and PhD programmes, and explained that no matter which stream individuals pursue, the most critical aspect is to not have “unexplained gaps in your academic pathways.” Dr. Mubin urged the attendees to continue working on publications or acquiring professional work experience as these actions would most effectively boost their chances of admission.
The evening ended with an interactive Q&A session, at the end of which Dr. Mubin shared his contact details with the students and alumni present and offered to help them in any capacity he could.
