Pakistani student wins distinction from top UK university

LONDON: A Pakistani student has gained top position in Bachelor’s of Business and Finance at the Heriot-Watt University by gaining 14 As.
Ahmer Baloch, aged 26, originally from Haveli Naseer Khan, a small village in the district of Lodhran, started his studies at the UK university in 2012 after qualifying for the American High School Diploma from Pakistan’s American School of International Academics (ASIA) in Lahore.
Heriot-Watt University is ranked within the top 20 universities of the UK i.e. 9th on the Sunday Times Top 100 Universities and 18th on The Guardian University Rankings, 2nd in Scotland and has the top ranking for many degree disciplines in the UK. Heriot Watt has three campuses in Scotland, one campus in London and one each in Dubai and Malaysia with combined student strength of over 30,000 students.
Although the graduation ceremony will be held on 27th of June 2014, the results have been published and it has been confirmed to Ahmer Baloch that he has topped the university.
Speaking to The News, Ahmer Baloch said he felt very proud at achieving the distinction: “It’s a proud moment for me as a Pakistani student from a highly ranked overseas university. I want this to be an inspiring and motivating factor for all the Pakistani students out there and want to let them know that if they work hard and persevere then only sky is the limit. From all the students combined, less than 5 percent achieved a distinction (highest possible mark for a degree). Among those that did achieve a distinction, I was the highest achiever (top graduate) around the world.” Ahmer Baloch, who now has offers of jobs from leading European financial firms, wants to make his achievement a special note for all the youngsters in Pakistan who lose their way in high school and come to a point where they think all hope is lost for them. It’s because Ahmer Baloch had given up on studying himself when he was 18. After finishing high school, he thought studying was a waste of time and he would be better off working on the lands of his father in Lodhran.
That all changed when he met his future wife Umme Rubab, a Briton of Pakistan origin who is a broker at a London firm, in Lahore and she went on to change Baloch’s whole perception.
“She taught me how to remain positive in the most negative of situations and never give up. I also learnt from her the joy of being self made and independent. I moved to London after my marriage and started my bachelor’s once again but this time, with absolute determination and drive to achieve success. I worked extremely hard preparing for the exams and after the finals, I could easily say that I was expecting to be the top in my class. Little did I know how strongly Allah helps those who help themselves. Two weeks after the results were posted, I received a letter from my university informing me that not only had I achieved a distinction, I had achieved a higher distinction among all of the university’s students around the globe! To make it even better, the degree helped me land a job at Ernst & Young, one of the ‘Big 4’ Professional Services firms in the UK and one of the best around the world.”
Ahmer paid tribute to his father Muhammad Iqbal Khan Baloch who never gave up on him “and found a way to see past all my previous mistakes and persisted with supporting me financially no matter what”.