Career counselling: questions and answers

Q1: Dear Mr Abidi, I did Civil Engineering and have been offered scholarships by HEC for Turkey, South Korea and Italy. My degree is from NUST. My request to you is please guide me for a better choice of destination and institution for masters? (Zafarullah Raja, Rawalpindi)

Ans: Dear Mr Raja, after going through your academic background, I can say you should do a specialisation in the domain of Civil Engineering and it also depends on what you are planning after your postgraduate degree. However, I would need more details like what was your GPA/percentage in your bachelors. You need to choose a few institutions/ shortlist keeping in view the type of programmes offered by institutions. I will recommend you South Korea and Italy. The key factors of getting the right choice are selecting a good faculty, research and better ranking institutions.

Q2: Dear Mr Abidi, my qualification is Bachelors with Journalism, History of Islam and Pakistan along with Arabic. I passed my bachelors in second division from PU. Now I wish to study MA International Relations or Mass Comm. I have also got admission in MA (International Relations) at University of Karachi. I request you to please give me your expert advice as to what I should do. I am also planning to do CSS after my postgraduate degree. (Govinda, Karachi)

Ans: Dear Mr Govinda, I have to say that your current qualification with BA in Social Science shows that you have chosen the right path. I think you should study Masters International Relations instead of Mass Communication. For a CSS attempt, you need to have high proficiency in English communication and comprehension, extensive knowledge about current affairs, international and local politics and social and economic factors in the region. If you have basic science knowledge, then with the above combination you should be successful.

Q3: Sir, I read your column recently and thought to get your opinion about Accounting and Finance (4-year honors degree). Whether this degree is worth studying and what are career prospects after this degree. (Jasmeen Sheikh, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Miss Jasmeen, the degree you mentioned is a very important subject /area of management and social sciences. However, only doing this degree is not sufficient until/unless you have a vision and a chosen career path to specialise and put to work your qualifications towards any specific area of specialty. I think my suggestion will help you in making the right decision.

Q4: Respected Mr Abidi, after passing O-levels with 5A* and 4A I am doing A-levels in Chemistry, Physics, Math and Computer Science. I have already done AS. I am considering many fields, including Physics, Computer Sciences, Management and Art and Design. Now I want to choose a field/ domain that has a lot of job opportunities, pays well and is suitable for girls. You are requested to please suggest which is a better option for me. (Mehr-un-Nisa Syed, Gujrat)

Ans: Dear Miss Mehr-un-Nisa, I’m pleased to note that you are a high calibre and a high achiever student. Keep it up. The combination of Physics, Computer Science and Management is very best and ideal for several emerging professions, especially for females. However, I think you need to have a one to one counselling session. I feel you should start searching and investigating the following degrees: Internet Security, Management Information Systems, Cybercrime and Investigative Management, Digital Forensics etc.

(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is a recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).