AlumniConnect Session 3

On April 5^th, 2021, the LUMS Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education hosted its third session in its latest series of talks AlumniConnect. The session, moderated by Dr. Soufia Anis Siddiqi, Assistant Professor at SOE, invited back three esteemed alumni Habiba Malik, Afreen Kamran and Fatima Iftikhar from our first graduated cohort, to share their experiences.

The first panelist Habiba Malik has been working as a short-term consultant for leading development sector organizations and education technology start-ups. While her primary interest lies in designing sustainable ed-tech interventions, she has also worked on projects analyzing the role of education research and evidence on the design, implementation, and outcomes of large-scale education programs.

Afreen Kamran, the second panelist, is currently working as an Assistant Manager School Evaluation Unit, BSS. She specializes in developing school improvement processes by operational leadership and management strategies. She is also the co-founder at Eco.Pal; a social entrepreneurial venture aimed at introducing environmentally and economically sustainable lifestyle products in the Pakistani market.

Fatima Iftikhar is currently working with the LUMS Learning Institute (LLI) as Co-Lead for Partnerships. She works to co-develop and facilitate the opportunities for student-faculty/staff collaboration through the flagship programme at LLI, the Pedagogical Partnership Programme. Her dynamic role also involves research regarding SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), program development, and mentoring the students who work as partners with the faculty/staff.

Talking about the shift in life after graduation, the alumni explained that how the MPhil Programme at SOE helped them in establishing the link between the theoretical frameworks and real-life scenarios, giving them the chance to develop and enhance their skill set. While discussing the practices of resilience the alumni have adopted to cope with the current situation where there is minimal human interaction with almost everything being online, they stressed on the importance of stress relieving activities which primarily provide you with the opportunity to reflect on and deal with the challenges which one is facing. The alumni also elaborated on how recognizing one's own area of interest is essential but that should not hinder the ability to explore diversified domains to develop the skill set.

The session ended with a comprehensive Q&A round. When asked about the placement process and opportunities post graduation, the alumni explained how SOE ensures maximum networking opportunities for its students with the potential employers. While areas of interest vary from person to person, "networking" and "creating opportunities" are two eminent factors in the placement process.