ONE TO OXFORD, THE OTHER TO BERKELEY

This fall Aidana Mustafa and Aslan Tabyldiyev will embark on their Master’s degree program at Oxford and Berkeley universities. They became the winners of the foundation’s competition for the subsequent program.

— The competition was difficult. 24 contestants competed for 2 grants. There were 3 stages to the competition and during the last one we interviewed everyone. We had to make a difficult decision, because each of them was worthy of victory — said the foundatin’s program nanager Ilzira Aldagarova.

Aidana is from Shymkent, and Aslan was born in Atyrau. Both are this year’s graduates of the Nazarbayev University. Aidana specializes in biology and Aslan – chemical engineering. Aidana has already worked as a teacher of biology and English at the school; also she became a winner in the International Biological Universiade and has publications in Cell Death Discovery. Aslan has won medals in National Competitions in physics and International Competition on programming. He was an assistant in several research projects and a Manager of the Department of Sciences at Nazarbayev University. Aslan also spoke at an international research conference in Greece, delivering his paper.

Aslan’s program has an early start, so he will be arriving in Berkeley in mid-August to continue studying chemical engineering.

— The Master’s degree program resembles a bachelor’s degree from the point of view of the training system, but I will additionally pass several courses on management and for sure — a two-month internship in a company. Afterwards, I plan applying to the Doctoral program; I’m considering MIT. When I get my degrees, I want to launch my own company, but I am not ready yet to say what will be the field of activity — shares Aslan Tabyldiyev.

The second winner also spoke up about her future plans. Aidana wants to enroll to the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University, and upon its completion — obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

— I start my studies at Oxford on October 1st. The first two semesters will be filled with lectures and laboratory work, where we will learn technologies and procedures. And in the third semester – the longest of all – I will conduct my own research. My specialty there is clinical embryology. It is about the treatment of infertility with the help of assisted reproductive technologies — a very pressing topic for Kazakhstan. I want to specialize in gynecology and obstetrics, — said Aidana Mustafa.

On average, the annual tuition fee for Master’s degree in one of the world’s leading universities is around 65-77 thousand US dollars. The Shakhmardan Yessenov Foundation — in accordance with the budget allocated for the Program — covers from 80 to 95% of the annual cost, while the rest of the necessary amount is covered by students themselves.

Among the outstanding graduates of the University of California at Berkeley are an inventor, engineer and programmer Steve Wozniak, actor Chris Pine and physicist Michio Kaku. While the scientist Stephen Hawking, politicians Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto as well as the writer John Tolkien graduated from the Oxford University.

UPDATE Aidana Mustafa enrolled at the school of medicine of Nazarbayev University and after notification from the Foundation that she had won our grant, the girl made a request to the NU administration to give her academic leave for the period of study in one of the best universities in the world, at Oxford. However, her request was declined. In response to our question, why she does not give up studying at NU in favor of Oxford, the student replied that the degree of doctor of medicine is more important for her future career. Aidana made quite a difficult choice, and we respect it, feeling sorry that she refused her chance. Thus, only one of the two winners in the international master’s program– Aslan Tabyldiyev from Atyrau — studies for the master’s degree under Yessenov Foundation’s  grant.