Portrait of a Nation: Academic Emirati couple extol value of further education

Couple who met through education and are both studying for PhDs hope to encourage other UAE nationals to further their education.

Emirati couple Ghanim Kashwani and Abeer Sajwani have both decided to go back into academia and have embarked upon their PhDs in environmental and civil engineering in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The Show more

DUBAI // An Emirati couple who gave up their jobs to pursue doctorates hope their efforts will encourage others to continue into higher and further education.

Ghanim Kashwani, 27, and Abeer Sajwani, 29, met as undergraduates at the American University Sharjah five years ago.

Since then they have mirrored each other’s academic achievements having completed their masters degrees before beginning PhD research at Heriot-Watt University in Dubai last September.

“We are both keen on doing research and the best way of pursuing that more seriously is by doing our PhDs,” said Abeer, who is taking a doctorate in environmental management in construction at the university’s build environment school.

“In life these days you can’t stand still, assuming the education you had five or 10 years ago will still be relevant.”

She believes it is important for people to set themselves goals in life.

“It’s very important that people understand the value of education,” Abeer said. “I hope that by our example more people will choose academia or, at the very least, be open to further education.”

After graduating from AUS with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science in 2007, she went on to work for developer Nakheel as an environmental officer.

Abeer had first-hand experience of the impact of the changing job market while working for the company during the global economic financial crisis.

“In the crisis, it became difficult and many of the projects slowed down,” she said. “I realised that to stay relevant in the jobs market I had to keep my skills up to date.”

She completed her masters degree in environmental and land planning engineering in 2011 at Politecnico Di Milano, in Italy.

After working as an environmental engineer at consultancy RTI International along with her husband, they both decided to head back to the world of academia.

“Academia is something we are both very interested in and, ideally, if we can continue doing research that would be fantastic,” she said.

Husband Ghanim agreed. “You can’t just rely on things you learnt during high school or college,” he said. “It has to be a life-long practice.”

He completed a bachelors degree in civil engineering at AUS in 2010 before completing a masters degree in the same subject at the same university in 2012.

While studying for his masters, Ghanim worked as a researcher and teaching assistant at the university.

“We met while doing our degrees at the American University of Sharjah, and academia has been an important part of our lives ever since,” he said.

Both Abeer and Ghanim were able to attain scholarships from the Emirates Foundation to allow them to pursue their goals.

“We are both very interested in doing research work and that was the main reason why we both decided to give up our jobs and do our PhDs,” he said.

“It’s going well so far but there have been challenges since we started last September,” he said.

With both of them having to travel around the country as part of their studies, finding enough time for family is difficult.

“It’s all about time management and we do our best to make time not just for ourselves but also our families,” said Ghanim, who is taking his PhD on safety engineering in construction in the UAE.

“It’s very important that you not only make time for your work but also your family and we are very conscious of that.”