She’ll be studying for a PhD in Middle Eastern studies.
Huge congratulations are in order for one young woman in Dubai, who’s on her way to Oxford University after winning a top-level scholarship.
Rana Al Mutawa is the first recipient of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation’s grant with the prestigious English university.
Read:
This UAE charity is helping build a school in Malala’s home town
Five women we’re excited to see at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
The 28-year-old Emirati woman will be working towards a doctorate in Middle Eastern studies, The National reports. Her work will focus on Emirati culture in particular.
Finding out she’d won the scholarship was a shock, Al Mutawa told the site. She was selected from 60 applicants, after being automatically put forward for the award since she fit the criteria.
“It was the first year they had the scholarship, so I had never heard of it and I just got this email and I was really happy because I’m from Dubai and I really admire Sheikh Mohammed so having his name and also Oxford on the scholarship — my scholarship — made me really happy,” she said.
The University of Oxford-Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Graduate Scholarship is open to post-grad students from Arab League countries who are accepted at Oxford. It’s based on academic merit, the Oxford site states, and is targeted at students from the UAE.
Born and raised in Dubai and studying Emirati culture, Al Mutawa was a natural fit for the award. Her course fees and college fees will be covered, and she will receive a grant for living costs.
Foundation spokeswoman Ahlam Al Hosani said the scholarship would grow as more funds became available.
“We’re trying to improve education, knowledge and development for all of humanity,” Al Hosani told The National. “Some of our activities are financing or encouraging basic education for thousands of people, and others are for the elite scholars. We’re translating Sheikh Mohammed’s vision of knowledge and development into practical things.”
Full details are available here if you or someone you know should be applying for the next academic year.
Images: Rana Al Mutawa/Instagram
