QS-Concordia University Scholarship: 2018 Winner

Every year, QS and Concordia University in Canada collaborate to offer a scholarship to one lucky international postgraduate student. The scholarship has this year been awarded to Indian student Bhigya Pande, who will now be exempt from paying the international fee rate at Concordia.

Bhigya will now study a Masters in Applied Computer Science at Concordia, commencing in September, having previously studied a Bachelor in Engineering in India and worked at the multinational technology company IBM. He hopes that the degree will enable him to customize his studies based on his evolving areas of interest, and (as the course name implies), acquire skills which can be put to practice and applied to further human progress.

He says: “During my final year I realized that graduate study is imperative if I wish to influence the wave of change in a way in which I can fully unleash not only my own inner creativity, but also the untapped potential in the huge field of data science and artificial intelligence.”

While India is home to numerous reputable engineering institutions, Bhigya was attracted to studying abroad in the US or Canada due to the huge spectrum of rigorous, high-quality education available, but decided on Canada as some relatives had studied there and spoken highly of the multi-cultural international exposure they gained from their experiences.

Bhigya was also attracted to Concordia University’s Applied Computer Science course due to the flexibility of being able to customize courses based on his interests, and he’d also like to improve his knowledge of French as a second language, making the multicultural, Francophone city of Montréal an ideal base for this.

After completing his degree, Bhigya can see himself working at major companies such as like Deloitte or Amazon, which have offices all over the world and a diverse, international workforce. However, he says “Working with and for an organization is just a medium – a medium of my own self-expression. In the long run, it is my desire to bring all my studies and learnings to practice and provide applications and solutions that help enhance facets of human life.”

Advice for other applicants

Bhigya is very grateful for this scholarship and the huge morale boost it gives him, and has this advice for other students who are applying for scholarships: “Don’t ever give up before even trying, even if it is a small scholarship, because you never know, you may be the one who wins that scholarship.

“Also, keep in mind that even a small scholarship will help you a lot in your studies, as you’ll be able to concentrate more on your studies rather than finding ways to meet your basic monthly expenses. While applying for the scholarship always proofread your applications, because even small mistakes can ruin your chances of winning one.”