Mohammed Alowais

What has your journey to Birmingham been like?

My name is Mohammed Alowais, a Saudi Arabian BSc Economics student at the University of Birmingham.

When I first joined the University of Birmingham, I thought I knew exactly what my life would look like. Stay on campus. Focus on my degree. Go to lectures, do the assignments, graduate.

I expected an academic journey. What I didn’t expect was to become part of a cross-border, cross-cultural community that would shape how I see the world – and myself.

What placements have you undertaken during your degree?

In my first year, UoB’s Go Global scheme opened a door I didn’t even know I wanted to walk through. I was selected to take a summer course at Aarhus University in Denmark, joining an intensive international summer school. In my second year, the Go Global scheme gave me another chance: a place at Linköping University’s summer school in Sweden.

In my final BSc Economics year, I was selected as a key presenter at a joint conference between the University of Birmingham and Nanjing Audit University (NAU), where I shared ideas linked to my dissertation alongside my peers.

How would you describe your time at Birmingham?

The University of Birmingham is not just a place you go to attend lectures and submit coursework. It is a living, breathing world of its own, full of international experiences and opportunities to study or engage abroad.