Sharing Session Scholarship of Ministry of Education Saudi Arabia (Umrah while Studying)

King Abdulaziz University, founded in 1387H/1967G, is named after the founder and first King of modern-day Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman al Saud. The University came into existence to promote and provide higher education to the western region of Saudi Arabia. With the support of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz and Sheikh Hasan bin Abdullah al A-Sheikh, the Minister of Education who chaired the committee for establishing the University, the University opened its doors for classes in 1968 (source from: www.kau.edu.sa).

One of the Lecturers from the Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya who accepted the Scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia at King Abdulaziz University is Mr. Asriyadi, ST., MT. The man who was born in Belitung on April 27, 1984, is a Lecturer in the Diploma 3 Telecommunication Engineering Study Program, Department of Electrical Engineering. He took his Bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Sriwijaya University, then continued his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in Telecommunication (Wireless Communication) at Andalas University, and now he continues to study for a Master’s degree (Ph.D.) in Electronics and Communication Engineering King Abdulaziz University.

Mr. Asriyadi has been applying for the Scholarship of the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia since February 2019, and then he was accepted on June 4, 2022. This takes time for a long time for the scholarship application, but the results were very good. Previously he had been accepted at Gifu University, Japan in April 2021 and had been doing online studying for 1 year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he finally decided to pull out from Gifu Univesity.

King Abdulaziz University which is one of the universities in the 100 world rankings, 1st Rank in the Middle East region and 1st Rank in Saudi Arabia. The department and study program currently being studied by Mr. Asryadi is the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, which is the best department at King Abdulaziz University. His current research focus is Wireless Communication which is integrated with the Internet of Things and Machine Learning technology for data processing supervised by Lecturer from Pakistan and Indonesia. The duration of the scholarship received is for a period of 4 years with all accommodations such as dormitories, campus bus transportation, pocket money, and others.

“I am very happy to be able to continue my studies at King Abdulaziz University. Apart from being able to pursue a Doctoral degree, the location of the campus which is in the heart of Jeddah is close to the Holy City of Mecca and Medina, allows me to carry out the Umrah to the Masjid Al-Haram and make pilgrimages to the Al-Masjid An-Nabawi at any time. Thank God, the hard work and long wait for 3.5 years has paid off sweetly by being able to worship in the Two Holy Cities of Muslims,” said Mr. Asriyadi.

Lectures at King Abdulaziz University are mostly held in the afternoon and evening. This is a culture shock study in Saudi Arabia because the activities of the Saudi population are mostly in the afternoon and at night. Mr. Asriyadi said that after several months of adaptation, finally he was able to adjust. For several semesters, students take part in lectures by taking several courses that have been set by the Department for all levels, be it a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctoral program. After the course is finished, then Masters’s and Doctoral students conduct research according to the focus of their respective fields. According to his observations, since carrying out education in Saudi Arabia, almost all universities in Saudi Arabia, including King Abdulaziz University, have followed the lecture system in the United States.

“For colleagues, especially friends who have just joined POLSRI, let’s immediately continue our education abroad and experience the new atmosphere and conditions so that we get new education and experiences. This is very good for the formation of an academic atmosphere on our campus Beloved POLSRI and the hope that POLSRI can become one of the most prominent Polytechnic institutions in Indonesia. The main point that needs to be prepared if you want to get a scholarship is preparation for English (IELTS and TOEFL). After that, prepare a research proposal related to the area of expertise that we are interested in. Then the last one, the main key to opening all fortunes is 3B (Try, Pray, and Give Alms) so God will give you the ease and success to get any scholarship” said Mr. Asriyadi to fellow academics who want to follow his tracks.