"What can you do in your university life" is a collection of academic and soft-skills development advices based on personal experience.

1. Training Workshop
"What Can You Achieve during
Your University Life?"
By Alahdal A. Hussein

2. Presentation Content
1. Introduction
2. Academic Aspect
3. Skills Development
4. Summary
5. Q&A

3. About the Speaker

4. About the Speaker

5. What are the things you can achieve
during your university life?
Write down things
you can achieve
during your
university life before
we go forward with
the next slide

6. What to focus on?
Academic
Skills / Experience
1.
1.
1.
Successful Person

7. 1- Academic Aspect
What can you achieve?
How to achieve that?

8. 1- Academic Aspect
Determine your Academic Goals
Short-term
Long-term

9. 1- Academic Aspect
Semester 1
Having no goal in mind led
me to GPA below 3.5/4.0
Semester 2
The goal was in mind and I achieved
GPA: 3.96/4.0
and kept achieving dean list till my
final semester.

10. 1- Academic Aspect
1
2
3
Determine your
Priorities
Find out how can
you achieve your
goals
What comes after determining
your goals?

11. 1- Academic Aspect
Difference is what makes you successful
Don't follow what others do, it will lead you to
where they go

12. 1- Academic Aspect
Academic Skills to CultivateSources to Utilize
‣ Academic Writing
‣ Quantitative Reasoning
‣ Analytical Thinking
‣ Research and Development
‣ Critical reading and thinking
‣ Listening and note taking
‣ Lecturers and Seniors
‣ Courses offered
‣ Technical Talks
‣ Industry Visits
‣ University Facilities ( library, Labs )
‣ SPE Resources
‣ OnePetro
‣ PetroWiki

13. 1- Academic Aspect
1
2
3
4Work-Hard
Determine Your
Priorities
How to Achieve
Your Goals
Determine Your Goal
Summary

14. 2- Skills / Experience
What can you achieve?
Develop / Cultivate Many Skills

15. 2- Skills / Experience
• Skills, abilities and traits that pertain to personality,
attitude and behavior.
Moss and Tilly, 1996
Soft skills defined …

16. • Employers criticize university output as having
their heads full of theories, concepts and
principles but graduates are often ill-equipped
to deal with real life situations
• ‘Soft skills are a lot harder to teach in the
world of work‘
Wall Street Journal Article, 2002
2- Skills / Experience

18. Intrapersonal
(Motivational) Interpersonal
Overt and covert behaviors leading to success or failure
Soft skills: The two domains ‫نفسه‬ ‫الشخص‬ ‫داخل‬
2- Skills / Experience

19. (Interactive)
Interpersonal (interactive) soft skill
• Team work
• Leadership
• Written and oral communication
• Adaptability
• Manage change
• Professionalism
• Relationship-building
2- Skills / Experience

20. • Time Management
• Willingness to learn
• Planning/ organizing
• Showing enthusiasm
• Self-confidence
• Positive attitude
• Working well under pressure
Intrapersonal (motivational) soft skills
2- Skills / Experience

21. ▪ Team-work
• Thinking “we”, not “I”
• Work together by:
– Giving the team the big picture
– Dividing work fairly
– Assigning responsibility to
achieve accountability
2- Skills / Experience

22. ▪ Good communication skills
2- Skills / Experience

23. ▪ Flexibility/Adaptability : Will you embrace change and be
open to new idea?
2- Skills / Experience

24. ▪ Time management abilities: Do you know how to
prioritize tasks and work on a number of
different projects at once?
If this is how your time is spent,
you are in danger
2- Skills / Experience

25. ▪ Self-confidence
Do yo truly believe you can do the job? Will you
project a sense of calm and inspire confidence in
others?
2- Skills / Experience

26. ▪ Strong work ethic
Are you motivated and dedicated to getting the
job done, now matter what?
2- Skills / Experience

27. ▪ Positive attitude
▪ Are you optimistic and
upbeat?
Will you generate good
energy and good will?
2- Skills / Experience

28. ▪ Working well under pressure
2- Skills / Experience

29. • You can do it!
• Know your subject
• Know your audience
• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Never just read
• Speak slowly, clearly and
• Be sincere and enthusiastic
• Keep to time
Public Speaking
2- Skills / Experience

30. Leadership, Managing-Change
Professionalism, Problem-Solving, Decision-Making
Planning, Interview-skills, CV
2- Skills / Experience

31. Once you start developing these skills, involving
yourself in projects, programs, doing volunteer work,
and holding positions, you will directly start gaining
experience.
2- Skills / Experience

32. • You are responsible for yourself
• What you don’t know may hurt you, or hold you
back
• Don’t be afraid of something. Learn about it!
• Build on your strengths; target weaknesses
• Develop important soft skills
• Technical competency is the core of your career
in engineering!
Final Advice

33. Q& A

34. Thank
you.