Dr Nor Kamaliana completed a double PhD.
IT was a totally unexpected blessing when a PhD student discovered she was pregnant, twice, while completing a double PhD.
That was more than what Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer Dr Nor Kamaliana Khamis had expected to achieve in the five years it took her to complete the double degree programme.
“Even though you have a tough time, difficulties and challenges, you try to focus on the positives instead,” she adds.
She says she kept up with her PhD studies by constantly discussing with her peers what was learnt during their classes.
The revision helped her spend less time poring over books outside of lectures.
Dr Nor Kamaliana had spent some time studying in the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, (UDE) under the PROMISE programme.
The PROMISE programme enables PhD candidates to earn two doctoral degrees from UKM and UDE.
Her PhD from UKM is in mechanical and materials engineering and a Dr. -Ing Mechanical Engineering from UDE.
The lecturer began her pursuit for the dual PhD in UKM for two semesters before going to UDE for nine months.
She says that that was her first time being in Europe, and also the first time she discovered she was pregnant.
She adds that she was nervous but believed that if you didn’t try something, you would never see results.
Dr Nor Kamaliana also says that her secret to success was a high level of discipline and good time management.
As a single mother of two, this was very important, together with support from her family.
She gave birth to her daughter during the winter there and her family flew out to take care of her until she returned to Malaysia.
While back, she says she had to leave her daughter with her family in Kuala Nerang, Kedah, while she returned to UKM.
Due to her leaving Germany early, Dr Nor Kamaliana had to return to UDE to complete her year and once again, while there, she found out she was pregnant with her second child.
“After experiencing the ups and downs of a new mother and PhD student’s life, I still can’t believe I can now hold this scroll in my hands,” she adds.
UKM vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali says the 46th UKM convocation saw 7,201 graduates receiving their scrolls bringing the total number of UKM graduates to just over 197,000.
Comments