How a Pakistani Student Won the Fully Funded Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to Study a Master’s in Engineering of Data-Intensive and Intelligent Software Systems in Finland and Italy

My name is Sarosh. I was born in Pakistan, and I spent most of my life there. I am a minority; I was born a Hindu, in a primarily Muslim country, but I was lucky enough for that to have never caused too many issues for me. When I was 15, I was selected for the YES scholarship, where I spent a year in the U.S, living with an American host family and studying at an American high school.

Right now, I’m studying in an Erasmus Mundus Master’s Programme called EDISS (Engineering of Data-Intensive and Intelligent Software Systems), hosted by Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. It’s a two-year joint master’s programme where the first year is spent at Åbo, and the second is spent at one of the partner universities, namely, Mälardalen University, Sweden, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain, and University of L’Aquila, Italy.

Educational Background 

Before the Erasmus programme, I’d completed my A Levels in Karachi, Pakistan, and attended the Computer Science bachelor’s program at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad.

Academically, these were arguably the best programs I could’ve attended in Pakistan. And in terms of extracurriculars, they provided ample opportunities for me to attend interschool and nationwide math/science and debate competitions. I also started playing chess and attending poetry competitions later in my academic career. Poetry led me to develop an interest in writing, which resulted in me writing and acting in a short film on women’s education in Pakistan, funded by the United States Department of State.

I was never much of a sports guy, so I just tried new things whenever I could find the time. Aside from activities in the school, I’d taken a semester of Piano and Music theory in the US, and I used that to learn the guitar after I got back to Pakistan. The US also introduced me to more nerdy things like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. And when I got really bored, I also tried learning how to throw cards and use nunchucks.

My point is, when you’ve tried so many things, it makes it easier to find people with shared interests. Which is important when you spend so much time moving from place to place. For any multi-country experience, your best friend is your adaptability and your ability to change.

How Did You Prepare to Apply for the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship?

Before I started any applications, I was just browsing for options. In Pakistan, it’s not very common to start working before you graduate from a bachelor’s, so I didn’t really have any savings. I was confident I wanted to do a master’s, but I also didn’t want my dad to pay for it, primarily out of principle, but also because a) He couldn’t really pay for everything so I would still need some kind of financial assistance and b) I’m one of three siblings and he had to take care of them too.

So, I knew that I needed a fully funded scholarship, or else I would just look for a job in Pakistan and save money for a while. In my research, I came across three main scholarships. Erasmus Mundus, which focused on Europe. It was fully funded, and I could apply to a maximum of three programs. The second was MEXT, which was a Japanese Scholarship. Although it was just as good, I wasn’t inclined towards it as I wanted to venture outside the Asian continent (it was wholly a personal preference). The third was Fulbright, offered by the U.S, but the main issue I had with that was that I had to go back to Pakistan at the end of the scholarship and stay there for at least two years. Again, a very personal preference, but coming back to Pakistan felt it would slow down my long-term plans of eventually moving out of there.

So, I focused on Erasmus. I knew I wanted to study AI or something close to that, so I looked for three programs that fit the criteria. I applied for IFROS, which was more focused on Robotics, LCT, which was focused on Language Processing, and EDIS, which was more focused on Data Science.

For the application, the programs mostly looked at Grades and GPA, so I spent my final year improving mine, and that was mostly all I needed to do. Other than that, I needed recommendation letters and a letter of motivation, for which my main approach was to just be honest and see what happened. And I got selected for one of them.

I think my application stood out because I had a combination of decent grades and quite a few extracurriculars. I don’t have a lot of passive hobbies, so I spend my time actively doing something. I think that improves your overall energy and gives you the creativity that a lot of these programs look for in people.

Could You Briefly Discuss the Erasmus Mundus Program You Pursued and the Specific Field of Study It Focused On?

The EDISS programme focuses on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. In our first year, we have 4 mandatory courses titled Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Embedded AI. Other than that, we’re required to do 4 elective courses, for which I chose Parallel Programming, GPU programming, Autonomous Systems, and Cloud Computing.

In addition to these courses, there’s a year-long project course titled Data Intensive Engineering, where we were divided into teams and assigned to industry experts who had agreed to participate in the course. The experts provided us with a topic to work on, which is usually a problem they were facing in their company or a topic of research they were pursuing, and we worked with them for the whole year towards a solution. For my project, I worked with two professors, one from the Netherlands and another from France. We worked on the topic of Explainable AI in medical imaging using texture analysis. It was a wonderful hands-on experience with research, and our findings were published in the Medical Imaging with Deep Learning conference in France.

For our second year, we pick a specialization at one of the three partner universities, and I went to the University of L’Aquila, Italy, which focused on Software Engineering of Intelligent Systems.

How Did the Cost of Living Vary Across the Countries You Studied In? Which Country Was the Most Affordable or Expensive, and How Did You Manage Financially?

So, in my programme, there was the full Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, which gave €1000 a month, and I received the EDISS scholarship, which was closer to €700 a month. This did make things a little harder financially, but it was still quite manageable. In Finland, most things were subsidised by the government and had student discounts, like public transport, student cafeterias, and even housing. Although Finland in general is more expensive than Italy, the subsidies made it a lot cheaper for me.

Italy was slightly more expensive, as I had to pay a lot more for utilities, rent, and food. But I’d spent my time in Finland saving money and working part-time at the University, which allowed me to go by without too many issues.

I also only spent one semester in Italy. I finished all course requirements in that semester and moved back to Finland to work on my thesis, which helped save some more in the long run.

Did You Face Any Language Barriers, and if So, How Did You Overcome Them? Did the Language of Instruction Change From One Country to Another?

The language barriers were more prominent in Italy than in Finland. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but more Finnish people knew English than Italians. However, in most areas of my personal day-to-day life, such as the university, the Erasmus Student Network Events, and even most government buildings, people generally did know English. And any troubles I had outside that were more or less solved by attending the mandatory Italian A1 course in Italy and Google Translate.

Would You Recommend the Erasmus Mundus Program to Others? What Advice Would You Give to Someone Considering This Scholarship?

I would absolutely recommend the program to others. If you’re looking to study Data Science, EDISS is an excellent way to both study theory and gather practical experience. And even if CS isn’t your field, Erasmus Mundus programs rarely add any burden on you financially. If you’re looking to go into an Erasmus programme or any scholarship for that matter, the only advice I’d give would be to improve your communication skills.

Since these programs are highly competitive, the thing that matters is your first impression. And yes, a big part of that is having done the right things that they’re looking for, but a bigger aspect is being able to sell yourself. Show that you’ve done the right things, and that you’re capable of much more. So, the first thing anyone looking to apply for such scholarships should do is learn how to effectively present themselves to people they’ve never met before.

Looking Back, Would You Have Done Anything Differently During Your Time in the Program?

Yes, of course, there are a lot of things I would do differently. I’m never fully satisfied with how I use my time, so I would tell past Sarosh to not sit at home too often, watch less YouTube, and meet more people. I focused a lot of my EDISS journey on self-improvement, and I feel like I could’ve explored the countries and the cultures I was surrounded by more. But that’s a very personal thing I’d like to change, everyone has their own goals and ideas.