Ethiopian student dreams big

Nigus Mengistu is one of ten children from a farming family in Adi Arbaete, Ethiopia, who is now a student in the Computer Professionals Program at MUM. Nigus has come this far as a result of his commitment to his education. As a high school student, Nigus won a scholarship and became one of four students from Ethiopia that year to study abroad at The United World Colleges. He studied for two years in Swaziland and earned an international bilingual high-school diploma.

Nigus with colleagues in Ethiopia

After receiving a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Bahir Dar University, Nigus worked for the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and for Cybersoft PLC designing Web applications for government agencies.

Nigus heard about Maharishi University of Management from a friend and former student and was intrigued by the idea of self-development and taking one course at a time. He entered the M.S. in Computer Science program and after 8 months of full-time training, he is ready to join the job market and continue his studies through the distance education portion of the program.

“I really enjoyed the interaction with students from other countries,” said Nigus. “I also learned a great lesson that exhausting myself is not an effective way to work.”

At MUM Computer Professionals picnic and alumni reunion

In addition to attending his university courses, Nigus joined the local Toastmasters club to improve his communication skills. He has given several speeches and now feels more confident about his speaking skills. He plans to continue his Toastmaster training when he finds a practical training job with a U.S. company.

“I am fulfilling my dreams,” Nigus said. “I have come this far and I would like to have a successful professional life and contribute to my community.”