"If my wish ever comes true, I wish to teach at the local university as an associated lecturer to gain experience first. To most people, it would mean a pay cut, but to me it is another chance to make a difference."

Dk Hajah Sofiana wishes to fulfill her aspiration of embarking on her PhD in hydro-geology.

Dk Hajah Sofiana discovered her passion for teaching while giving consultation to other people. In the course of her work, she enjoyed it so much that she decided to make a career switch to the academic world by doing a PhD.

She is currently shelving her wish to place priority on saving for necessities. She makes it a habit to “pay herself first” with every paycheck, and this has kept her debt-free with her credit cards paid in full each month.

However in taking the small steps to attain her goal, she has done her research and discovered that the scholarships offered by some universities in Australia to international students doing postgraduate degree only covers the tuition fees.

Therefore she aspires to realise her wish by saving with BIBD.

Continue to read Hjh Sofiana's story in full...

I currently earned a good salary working as a Geoscientist support in a company called Schlumberger. I tend to live a very simple life, although, I have a very expensive hobby, which is traveling. Although I earned a respectable amount, I do have responsibilities to fill.  

My youngest sister is currently studying in Australia as a first year self-sponsored student in Monash University. Her tuition fees are mainly paid by years of saving with the joint effort of the entire family. I started contributing to the fund as soon as I started working. The money accumulated was enough to pay for 1 year of her tuition fees. However, I still have to supplement money each month to pay for her accommodation, and anything extra such as equipments, clothes etc.  

Both of my parents are retirees. Although they received income from their rental house, and my dad’s pension, I helped out by giving them money each month. I also set aside money each month for any emergencies.  

Saving is a habit learnt during university life, when there was not much money to go around. However, the rewards for developing a saving habit are good. I had graduated university without even having an overdraft, and also managed to backpack around Italy, UK etc. It is to that habit that I relying on to secure my future.  

Realizing early on that working in an oil and gas industry would not provide a secure job for life, I made a point to “pay myself first” with every paycheck, and the money goes into investment such as mutual funds, shares and saving account. The savings and investments that I have made would hopefully give me a secure financial future. However, there are times in which I had to dipped into the saving account in order to pay for necessitates such as my sister’s laptop, plane tickets for my parents etc. Currently I have no loans, and my credit cards are paid in full each month.  

Like most people, I have lots of wishes but my biggest wish would be to do a PhD in hydro-geology. I had taken my M.Sc in Petroleum Geoscience, and specialized in reservoir modeling. One of the responsibilities of my job is I have to do is to teach, and give consultations to various people. It is during one of those teaching sessions that I discovered that I enjoyed teaching people, and making them understand the subject in more details. People always made comments that they enjoyed my teaching style, as I tend to give examples they can relate to, and also made them think when I asked them questions so they could see what goes beyond the subject that I teach. I have also discovered that I enjoyed problem-solving, and doing research. Hence, my wish to do my PhD, and make a career switched to the academic world. I had gone to the local university postgraduate fair held recently, and there is a potential to do my PhD there. However, no scholarship was available.  

I have also done a little research, and discovered some universities in Australia do offer scholarship to international students doing postgraduate degree but the scholarship only covers the tuition fees.  

At the moment, my wish has taken a backseat. I have to concentrate on the necessities first such as saving money in case I have to replace my 8 years old car soon, getting my youngest sister through university and saving up to build a house. However, if my wish ever came true, I wish to teach at the local university as an associated lecturer to gain experience first. To most people, it would mean a paycut, but to me it is another chance to make a difference.