Australia Awards South and West Asia

Ali Ahsan Mohamed recently completed a Master of Engineering (Engineering Management) at the University of South Australia, with the support of an Australia Awards Scholarship.

In the following video, filmed towards the end of his Scholarship, Ali discusses his experiences as an Australia Awards scholar in Australia.

In Maldives, Ali works as a maintenance engineer for Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), the main water company in the country. While his department has traditionally dealt with equipment maintenance, recently they have been expanding into projects related to renewable energy, such as installing solar panels in the company’s facilities. This aligns well with Ali’s background in electrical engineering, but has come with new challenges. “I have to work with a lot of staff from different backgrounds, such as electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, production engineers and so on, as well as handle all kinds of people from different backgrounds,” he says. This prompted him to develop his knowledge of management techniques by applying for an Australia Awards Scholarship.

“My biggest goal was to impact my development of the country,” he says, and his new skills will help him achieve that in his professional role. “I’ve learnt how to manage people, how to manage projects, how to deliver them effectively, efficiently,” he says. Going back to Maldives with this knowledge, he adds, “I can have a better opportunity to complete the projects much better than what we’ve been doing.”

Studying in Australia was eye-opening for Ali. He describes it as “one of the best experiences that I’ve had”. He attributes this to working with professors from a wide range of backgrounds, not just in terms of their fields of study but their cultures as well. “They are from all over the world,” Ali says, pointing out that this enables them to speak from experience about practical applications in specific contexts. He gives the example that Australia has four different seasons throughout the year, but techniques for an Australian winter aren’t applicable in equatorial countries like Maldives. However, his multicultural professors “enlightened me how I can use my skills much better to apply back to my country”.

Ali (far left) taking a selfie with other Australia Awards scholars during the End of Year Celebration event in Adelaide in November 2024.

Australia Awards made Ali’s induction into international study seamless by requiring his university to provide an Introductory Academic Program (IAP) to all scholars. He had been out of tertiary education “for more than a few years” before receiving the Scholarship. “Coming back, I was a bit rusty,” he admits, “and I was thinking, ‘How should I start writing and researching?’, but the IAP program, it’s a four-week program that teaches you how to write, how to take notes, how to do research.” The refresher course was invaluable. “It helped me a lot,” he says. “I can say it improved my writing by a lot and it shows in my results as well.”

Ali took the opportunity to do a lot of sightseeing while in Australia—“in addition to studies, of course,” he hastens to add. His family joined him in Australia from his second semester onwards. “Since they came here, we’ve been to a lot of different national parks,” he says. “We drove to Melbourne, we’ve recently been to Tasmania. Me and my kids, we just love to travel.”

He also visited local sites such as Victor Harbor on trips organised by student groups like G’day Mates. In addition to feeding his travel bug, such activities helped him make new friends. “I got to learn about [a] lot of different cultures and what kind of food they like and what kind of fun they like to have, so it was a very good experience for me,” he says.

Ali is effusive about the many benefits that come with an Australia Awards Scholarship. “They support us to bring our families, and for me it was a very big plus point,” he says. “It helps you to study, because it helps you not be affected mentally, because they are there to support you.” The benefits extend to his family as well. “My kids love the schools here. […] I’m very proud to say that they love it and they’re adjusting very well to the studies here,” he says, and adds, “I think in the future they might plan to come back here for further studies.” Ali will no doubt recommend that they apply for an Australia Awards Scholarship themselves, as he can vouch for the assistance they will receive. “We have a very generous stipend,” he says, “and also one more thing, we have a lot of support services available: tutoring, counsellors—any type of support we need.”

Given his love of travel, Ali is forthright in his advice for prospective Australia Awards scholars: “Please travel when you come here.” Of course, he offers an important caveat. “I’m not saying ‘Don’t study’,” he laughs, “but in addition to your studies, please get to see the places in Australia […] get to see the people, get to enjoy the food and everything. That’s my best advice.”

Ali completed his degree in December 2024. “One of the biggest learning goals that I’ve achieved here is people management and project management,” he says. “In my workplace, we work with people from different islands and of different ages as well; they range from late teens to 50, 60 years.” He points out that working with people from different backgrounds poses a range of challenges when it comes to conflict and interpersonal relations, but he has learnt “the best ways to tackle conflicts and how to resolve conflict”. On the project management front, he has learnt “how to manage projects on time, [how] to effectively use your resources and how to […] deliver projects more effectively.” Ali is now taking this knowledge back to MWSC in Maldives, where he will work towards his goal of contributing to the development of his country.