Illuminating post graduate opportunities abroad

The Finance Club of North South University hosted a daylong event on July 7, 2015 for prospective graduates looking to pursue higher studies abroad. The aim of this event was to present students with a summarised perspective with regard to post graduate education so that they can make informed decisions in their choice of higher education.  The event was divided into sessions that covered different regions of the globe. It started off with a session on tackling GRE/GMAT and proceeded to discuss the prospects of higher studies in the USA, Canada, Europe (except the UK), the UK and Australia and lastly Asia. The seminar was conducted by some of the eminent faculty members of North South University and individual students who represented designated research teams that spent considerable amount of time reviewing the various implications of studying abroad in their respective regions.
Groundwork for standardized tests: GMAT and GRE
The first portion of the seminar, regarding tactics to studying GMAT was conducted by the faculty members of North South University, Mr. Khan Muhammad Saqiful Alam, a lecturer of Operations and Risk Management for the department of Management of School of Business and Economics, who  completed his masters from Manchester Business School in Operations, Projects and Supply Chain Management with extraordinary scores in the GMAT, talked about the regions in which GMAT was most accepted and for which career paths a prospective student needs GMAT versus GRE. He informed the students about the test format as well as the proper books to study to score well in the exam.
The same session was continued by Ms. Zareen Tasnim Lazima, a mentor at the research wing of NSU Finance Club and a final year Finance Major at the university. She discussed relevant test taking tactics for the GRE. She spoke about the exam format at length and suggested several relevant books needed to ace the GRE exam. She also suggested mobile applications and websites to help score well in the GRE.
Preparing for universities in the USA
 Faculty member Mr. Jamy Mohaimen shared his experience on studying in the US in the same session. He stressed the importance of researching universities to find the right fit. He  completed his MS (Master of Science) in Accounting from Baruch College-Zicklin School of Business, USA. He completed his Bachelors in Finance from the same university.
Studying in Canada
The third session was on higher study opportunities in Canada, conducted by Ms. Rubaiyat Shams, representing her designated research team. She spoke about the quality and value of education, the research opportunities, the value of a Canadian degree and the ease of immigration as compared to other popular destinations for higher studies. She differentiated between a Masters in Finance and an MBA, in terms of career variety, job growth and salary. She discussed the various paths a degree in Finance can take such as Corporate Finance, Financial Accounting, Actuarial Finance, Financial Engineering and Behavioural Finance apart from the basic Finance degree and pointed out which universities are the best for which particular degree.
The session on Canada ended with a talk from faculty member Ms. Kashfah Khan Chowdhury who recollected her experience on studying in Canada. She completed her Master of Arts in Globalization Studies, McMaster University, Canada.
Countries to consider in Europe
The fourth session was on European universities, conducted by Mr. Mohammad Tahmid Kabir representing his research team. He mentioned how the length of programmes is comparatively shorter in the European universities and spoke about the prestigious universities from each region in Europe such as France, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany. He illustrated, step by step, the application process as well as the requirements needed to be accepted in these universities.
The United Kingdom and Australia
The fifth session was broken into two parts, each responding to post graduate opportunities in either UK or Australia for finance majors.
Ms. Bilkish Barkat Ali, representing the research team, started off by exploring the feeling of roaming antique architectures that the campuses of universities at the UK have. Moving on to more serious discussions, she divided the numerous universities in three parts, 1st tier, 2nd tier, and 3rd tier. Not only did she go through all the requirements that one may need to fulfill to get into these universities but also recommended undergraduate CGPA ranges, standardized test scores, work experiences, and expenses based on what she found during her research on the respective topics.
The second part of the fifth session, regarding Australia, was covered by Ms. Sadia Zaman, representing her particular research team. Though she had a pretty similar presentation outline, she was amazingly detailed throughout every topic. Starting with highlighting why one should pursue higher education in Australia, she told the attendees about the core differences between a Master's degree and an MBA. She started outlining all the specialized postgraduate degrees in the area of Finance. Moving from there, she gradually went through the financial aid systems, all the scholarships, tuition costs, living expenses, application procedure and so on from both MBA and Master's perspectives.
After Ms. Zaman's presentation, again Mr. Khan Muhammad Saqiful Alam acquired the stage, this time to share his personal experience regarding studying and living in the United Kingdom. Following his discussion, Ms. Zareen Tasnim Lazima took place to answer all the queries regarding the fifth session.
Opportunities in the emerging Asia
Finally, the last session was delivered by Ms. Kifayet Amina Ahmad Esha, representing Asia. She covered a range of Asian countries namely China, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea. She briefly walked over the standardized tests and also outlined some notable alumni and shared their words and experiences to have the attendees get a grasp of the real world from as close as possible. She also highlighted how most of these universities cost quite less than the western ones, while many of them are offering equivalent world class education.
Concluding remarks
Finally, the President of the club, Mr. Reyasat Chowdhury, and the Treasurer, Mr. Sayem Chowdhury, handed out certificates to every member of the club, who was involved in the research team of Excellence Beyond Borders. They also appreciated the associate partners with small tokens of gifts and graciously thanked all the participants.
Excellence Beyond Borders has been the first of its kind conducted by a co-curricular university club in Bangladesh. For those who have decided to study abroad, numerous confusions would still exist regarding the choice of country, degree and most perplexingly, the choice of the most appropriate university. Above all, this is undoubtedly time consuming. The organisers believe the event to have shed light on the aspect of post graduate education with precise guidelines for finance majors at the undergraduate level and to have made the search for education opportunities abroad easier for the students.
All the soft materials discussed in the event have been publicly shared by NSU Finance Club via their facebook page,  https://www. facebook.com/NSUFinanceClub.
Md Sifat Bin Raquib is a senior member at  NSU Finance Club; Kifayet Amina Ahmad Esha is a member at research wing of NSU Finance Club