Young Omani secures research posting at top UK university

MUSCAT: A young Omani scholar has been invited by one of Britain’s best-known universities to work as an Innovation and Entrepreneurial Researcher at its Science Park, exemplifying opportunities that await bright young minds from the Sultanate in key markets abroad.

Hajer al Alawi, who had just completed her Master’s in Entrepreneurship at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK, said she was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the varsity’s Business Solutions Centre offering a much coveted position at the local Science Park.

“It was a call from out of the blue!” said Hajer. “I had just recently finished my graduation project when the Business Solutions Centre, which administers the Science Park, called to offer me a job as an Innovation & Entrepreneurial Research. I was simply bowled over!” she gushed.

For young Hajer, the job offer comes as a recognition of what high achievers from the Sultanate — and indeed elsewhere around the Gulf and Middle East — can garner in their quest for academic and professional success. It also exemplifies the impressive strides that Omani girls can achieve, in particular, if they set their minds to clear-cut career and professional goals.

The young scholar credits a combination of hard work, perseverance and ambition to her early success. Earning a Bachelor’s degree in IT from the College of Applied Sciences in the Sultanate, Hajer was awarded a scholarship to pursue her Master’s in Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, a favourite destination for many Omanis going abroad for their higher studies.

For her thesis, she studied the potential application of Big Data in marketing small and medium enterprises — a theme that will hold her in good stead when she begins her new assignment at the Business Solutions Centre. Her main remit is to assist job-seekers and fresh graduates with research inputs utilizing Big Data technologies.

“I look forward to getting started at the Business Solutions Centre, which is one of the nerve centres of the University of Wolverhampton. The centre aims to empower students to be future business leaders starting out as entrepreneurs and eventually running their own businesses,” Hajer added.