Three graduates of the Department of English and Humanities at BRAC University have received higher education scholarships from Europe and Canada which are due to take effect from this year.
Of them, Farhin Rahman received the scholarship for a Masters Degree in Critical Gender Studies at Central European University. The scholarship covers 75% of her tuitions and comes with a €500 monthly stipend. Farhin attained her undergraduate degree in English literature in 2019. She was also a part of the university’s esteemed Scholars’ Program. Her interdisciplinary thesis titled “Of the Mother and the Whore: A Depiction of the Contemporary Socio-Political Events and their Impacts on Female Identity in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake” delved into gender politics from a literary and anthropological perspective, which inspired her to explore the area of gender studies. With that inspiration, Farhin applied at Central European University, which offers one of the top social sciences programs in the world.
The second graduate, S. M. Sanzana Rahman, has received York Graduate Fellowship and York Graduate Scholarship to start her M.A. in Applied Linguistics at York University from September 2021. The scholarship covers 100% of her tuitions and comes with a generous monthly stipend. She is also a graduate research assistant of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at York University. In the York Graduate Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Student Association, Sanzana has a dual role of MA representative on the GLASA Executive Committee and Events Committee member.
She has attained both her B.A. and M.A. degrees in ELT and Applied Linguistics with highest distinction at BRAC University. During that time, she received scholarships covering 100% and 70% of her tuitions respectively. She has received the Vice Chancellor’s Medal for obtaining the highest CGPA of 4.00 out of 4.00 at postgraduation level. She has taught as a lecturer at the Department of English at Southeast University. Her research interest includes heritage language, language and identity, identity and its role in language acquisition, technology and its impact on language learning.
The third graduate, Nishat Tasneem, received the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship for the International Masters in Adult Education for Social Change (IMAESC) program, which will be coordinated by the University of Glasgow, University of Malta, Open University of Cyprus and Tallinn University. It is a fully funded scholarship covering tuition fee, health insurance, and travel as well as living expenses.
Nishat attained her undergraduate degree in English with a major in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT) in 2017. Her studies at the undergraduate level later motivated her to pursue a Masters in ELT at the University of Dhaka and take up a career as a lecturer of English at International Standard University in Bangladesh. It also equipped her to take part in various literacy and education-oriented research and projects funded by different international financial institutions such as Oxfam and USAID. With her experience in teaching, research and education along with encouragement and support from her teachers at BRAC University, Nishat was motivated to apply for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) program, which will commence from September 2021.