Al Ghurair University Student Becomes 2nd Emirati Engineering Students to Win Rhodes Scholarship
Published: 29th of November, 2022
Al Ghurair University Computer Engineering student, Mohammad Ali Mohammad Rashed Alsharid, has been awarded the coveted and internationally recognized Rhodes scholarship from Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
His achievement follows the announcement in 2015 that fellow Al Ghurair University student, Fahad Al Shaibani, had also won the prestigious award, becoming the first Emirati engineer to do so.
The scholarship will support Mohammed for two years while he obtains his graduate degree at Oxford University, which is widely recognized as one of the best universities in the world. It covers the cost of tuition and offers a small stipend in addition to flights to and from the UAE.
This highly regarded scholarship requires applicants to successfully complete an intensive compatibility process, which includes an interview with several world-leading professors and experts. Only 0.7% of applicants are chosen as recipients. They are chosen based on four selection criteria: intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service and are generally considered by the Rhodes Trust to be potential future leaders.
Alsharid has been recognized for his achievements in the past. His senior design project, a mobile app that measures the emotional sentiment expressed by Twitter posts generated within UAE and can generate information about positive and negative sentiments, and most notably show a trend called a “Happiness Pulse” highlighting where the most positive sentiment is being generated has won several awards, including the first prize winner of the 4th United Arab Emirates Undergraduate Student Research Competition, in May 2022. He and his co-researcher were also asked to present the app to Her Excellency Ohood Alroumi, the UAE’s Minister of State for Happiness.
“It’s an honor to be chosen as a recipient for this scholarship, and I am greatly looking forward to pursuing my graduate studies at Oxford University,” said Alsharid. “I am grateful for the education and opportunities Al Ghurair University have given me. I couldn’t have done this without the support of the management, faculty and staff, and I hope that I can continue to make them, and the UAE, proud with my future efforts.”
“We are very proud of Mohammad Alsharid and his accomplishment,” said Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Al Ghurair University’s Executive Vice President. “He is the second of our students to receive a Rhodes scholarship and I believe that this speaks to the quality of the students at Al Ghurair University. The wise leadership of the UAE have focused on education as the way forward for the country and its citizens, and the investment and support for young researchers is evident in their achievements and their ambition. We look forward to seeing how much more Mohammad achieves in his career, and the future successes of the youth of the UAE.”
