For most of students studying in a foreign university is a dream come true. There are only few people, who can do that with a fully funded scholarship. A young girl, Zoya Altaf Mir, is all set to embark on a new adventure of her life as she has been selected under the ACII (Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London) Sponsorship Programme for studying the prestigious ACII Qualification which provides a chance to avail international qualifications for the gifted students with ambition who are otherwise unable to afford or have access to them. Twenty one-year-old Zoya is currently pursuing her bachelor’s in humanities from Women’s College, MA Road, Srinagar.
She has got distinctions in her Board Exams and is highly motivated to study for the Prestigious Internationally recognised ACII Qualification from Chartered Insurance Institute, London.
Zoya was determined about pursuing her career in the field of medicine but had a change of mind after she was unable to crack CET although she scored excellent grades in her board examinations. She was also selected under SAARC scholarship to study medicine free of cost but that too failed to win her approval.
“I surprised myself when I decided to leave my subject and pursue something different. But things worked out for me and I am grateful for that. I got to know about this programme in my college but I was not able to grasp the whole point of it and that is when I got in touch with an education consultancy, ALIANZA which has collaboration with world renowned institutions and has partnered with Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), London,” says Zoya.
The CEO of the CII Institute had announced a scholarship programme for two young girls from all over India for the CII’s Advanced Diploma level. Zoya, because of her excellent academic results, got selected and as per the criteria she has to sit for CII exams at any of the CII exam center across India for which the study material will be provided by the CII itself.
“As I have been selected under the sponsorship programme, the expense of study material and examination will be taken care of by the CII, UK. I will receive the study material from UK and then I will have to prepare for the exams on my own. To earn the ACII Qualification, I have to pass twelve papers covering minimum 290 credits. I will have to study through distance mode. Exams held outside UK are yearly or six monthly and the number of papers for each cycle can be chosen as per ones convenience. The exam pattern includes MCQs, brief answers, case studies and applied techniques in the form of coursework. The duration of course varies based on the number of papers per cycle,” says Zoya.
Talking about the contribution of ALIANZA in helping her with this programme, Zoya says,
“ALIANZA has played a key role in acquainting me with the ACII course. Rouf Wadera, Managing Director of ALIANZA guided me through the whole process. He provided me with all the requisite information about the institution, the course and the vast job opportunities available in the field of Insurance and Financial Services. ALIANZA helped me in my selection, otherwise like most of the youngsters; I too was clueless about this field.”
The major problem that Zoya had to face was regarding her study material about which she says,
“The CII provides study material in two formats that is soft copies and hard copies. The E-book option would have been more feasible for me as you can get all the material in a small span of time. But I chose to go with the other option because of the frequent snapping of internet here by the government without prior notice. The books will take twenty days to get delivered from UK which is quite long but I had to go with the safer option. Another problem which should be taken up by the authorities is the lack of awareness. If there would have been at least ten students appearing in these types of exams, we would have had our own centre but since most of the students have no clue about these kinds of opportunities, this goal remains unattained.”
After completing her graduation, Zoya will continue studying for the ACII Programme and would like to obtain a masters degree in Literature later in life. Talking about the innumerable opportunities available nowadays and the potential of young people of Kashmir, Zoya says,
“It is important to understand the capabilities of our children and let them decide for their career on their own. I have been very fortunate in that case. There is tremendous potential but very little awareness which hampers development. There are organizations like ALIANZA which have established links with British Council and other vocational courses like Cambridge English Language Assessment that can help you choose a fruitful career. I have experienced it and I can see a bright future ahead of me.”