Meet six Oxford students who are ready to change the world
Source: Bridie Pearson-Jones
REMEMBER their names – the next time you hear them they could be negotiating at the G8 summit or addressing the United Nations.
For the third year in a row the Pershing Square Scholarship for 'outstanding future leaders' has brought six students from six different countries to Oxford – all who have plans to change the world.
The programme allows students to combine a specialist master's degree with an MBA at the Said Business School with all their tuition fees and living expenses covered by Oxford University.
One of this year's contingent is Tim Krupa, who worked with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada before coming to Oxford.
The Canadian is studying for an MSc in Public Policy.
Mr Krupa worked for two summers in Zambia helping teachers implement after school programmes through sport.
He said Oxford’s diversity is what inspired him to come to the city.
Mr Krupa said:“I wanted to get a new cultural experience.
“I deliberately chose to study at St. Antony’s because it’s the most international college."
“Oxford is truly magical. The people are so interesting and dynamic, they always challenge me and my ideas.”
Another scholar, Tulsi Parida, wants to improve literacy in third world countries using technology.
Her master's focusses on ‘the social science of the internet’.
Before coming to Oxford she split her time between teaching third graders in New York and working in India, both of which she considers her native countries.
She said: “Education and technology are both meant to be these great equalising forces - so why aren’t we bringing them together?
“I want to develop an expert understanding of the changing role of the internet in society, and how it can be best utilised to revolutionise opportunities for education in the developing world.”
Ms Parida is not the only scholar who hopes to utilise technology for the better.
Carl Rietschel, from Hamburg, Germany is studying for an MSc in computer science which he hopes to use to improve the ethics of the artificial intelligence industry.
Lauen Xie, who is studying an MSc in nature, society and environmental governance, like her colleagues is concerned about ethical implications of modern life.
Ms Xie, a first-generation Chinese American from California, wants to use her experience working in Indonesia and Australia to combat issues surrounding deforestation and indigenous people’s rights.
She hopes her MSc will give her a theoretical base to make a change after seeing deforestation first hand.
Vuyane Mhlomi, from South Africa, formerly a Rhodes scholar, was raised in a notorious township on the fringes of Cape Town.
He aims to transform the lives of future generations through education, healthcare and entrepreneurship by studying for a DPhil in obstetrics and gynaecology.
He runs the MH Foundation, a non-profit organisation which uses education as an instrument to cultivate future leaders in Africa. He also co-founded the Emergent Healthcare Group to tackle issues with the public healthcare system in South Africa.
Giorgio Tarraf, from Beirut, Lebanon, was born at the tail-end of the civil war in the country. After witnessing the problems with post-war development policies on the Lebanese population he made his goal to improve the living conditions of urban populations around the world through the development of sustainable urban plans, with a focus on post-conflict reconstruction, which he hopes to improve further through his MSc in Comparative Social Policy.
| }
|