ABU DHABI // Emirati Shamsa Al Ameri was born and raised in Nahel, a small rural town about 30 minutes north of Al Ain. The high grades she secured at Nahel Girls School – one of three schools in town – earned her a full scholarship to study in the United States.
When Ms Al Ameri recently returned to the UAE armed with a bachelor of science degree in genetics from Iowa State University, there were many people who took pride in her accomplishment.
“It was not just a big deal for my family, it was a big deal for the whole city,” said Ms Al Ameri, who is the first pupil from her town to have been admitted to the Study Abroad Scholarship Programme offered by the Scholarships Office, under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
Ms Al Ameri was one of 139 recent graduates of the programme, including about 20 women, to be honoured on Monday at Emirates Palace by Sheikh Mansour and other royal and academic dignitaries.
“The Government’s support has even helped my family to realise that women here are good and they can do the best for the country and be proud of being a UAE woman,” Ms Al Ameri said.
The Scholarships Office, opened in 1999, has been sponsoring academically gifted Emiratis to study abroad by offering them full -tuition, monthly salaries, health insurance and annual airline tickets.
Students with a grade-point average of 90 per cent or higher are eligible for the scholarship.
Successful candidates must also pass an interview and be admitted to a university overseas.
Since its launch the programme has produced 429 Emiratis who earned 11 PhDs, 55 masters, 362 bachelors and one associate’s degree.
But the graduates said they returned home with much more than a framed certificate attesting their international academic credentials.
“It gave me a bigger view, a bigger idea of what the world is about,” said Ms Al Ameri, who now works at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
“Travelling abroad, you’re not just adjusting your life to other countries or other people, you’re also letting them know who you are, where you’re from, your culture, your values, and I give them more understanding about the world I live in.”
Basma Al Saadi, 25, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arizona, said the opportunity allowed her to show her international peers that Emirati women “are like any other women in the world”.
“We value education, we respect other cultures, we love to educate ourselves, we are so proud of ourselves as women and being able to study abroad,” Ms Al Saadi said.
Sulaiman Al Hammadi, 25, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s master of industrial engineering programme, said graduates could now show their gratitude by repaying the favour.
“It’s our turn to give back to the country because they have spent a lot. They invested a lot in the people. So now it’s our turn to give back as much as we can to apply what we learnt throughout the years in our new jobs,” said Mr Al Hammadi, who works for Mubadala.
Before moving to the US, Ms Al Ameri said she thought citizens everywhere were given the same opportunities and privileges as Emiratis.
“I got to learn that people really work hard to get to the life they want to get,” she said. “That made me realise that if everything is just coming to you and you’re not doing anything, one day all of this can just not be there. And what are you going to do afterward? So, I learnt from that, it’s not just you have to receive, but you have to give.”
rpennington@thenational.ae