Onderwijs

Life after Delft: The struggle ends Down Under

Jawahar Nerkar from India is a 2004 graduate of TU Delft, where he received an MSc degree in Materials Engineering (Polymer Technology).

He is currently pursuing a PhD degree at the University of Melbourne, in Australia.

“Memories of my beautiful days spent in Delft still linger. While studying at TU Delft I visited almost every part of Europe and always wished that my Delft days would never end! But time never stops and the brutal face of life, reality, always awaits! Life after Delft has been hard and I struggled mightily to achieve my goals.

This cycle began back in June 2004 when I was preparing to graduate from TU Delft. I wanted to continue my education with a PhD. The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) is a leading institution, so obviously DPI was my first choice. However, my first shock came when I discovered that DPI had no suitable opening for me. Although my first attempt in Holland failed, I remained persistent and began applying to other Dutch universities, but some didn’t even reply to me and others said they had no funding available.

Failing to secure a PhD position in Holland, I had no other options but to search for jobs with European companies. The companies’ replies however were not much different than my PhD efforts: I was shocked to receive negative replies all the time. At this time, my only happy moment came when I received an ‘8’ for my thesis. This I hoped would at least give me a good start back home in India.

It felt good to finally be back home in India, sitting alone on my terrace and thinking about my future action plan. India’s a rapidly growing economy and I hoped to get a good job there – a win-win situation for me, as I’d be working in my home country with a ‘well-reputed’ MSc degree from TU Delft.

In the meantime, I applied to various other universities, from Germany to Australia, hoping for PhD position in Polymer Engineering. But unbelievably most university professors were either sick, away on vacations or merely sent apologies for not having any available PhD positions for me.

My efforts did finally click at one institution in Sweden and at the Max Plank Institute in Germany, which was ready to offer me a PhD position. For this I needed a recommendation letter from one of my TU Delft professors, but after repeated requests and emails, I still didn’t receive the letter. I felt then that this was surely the time to give up my one-year quest to start a PhD!”
Worthless paper

“While applying for jobs in India, I was disappointed to discover that many Indian companies had never heard of TU Delft, and some companies therefore even looked at me and my TU Delft degree with suspicion!

Salaries in India are much lower than in Europe: average Indian salaries range from 300 to 400 euro per month! And with India’s huge population, there are more highly educated people than suitable jobs for them. Hence, even with an economy growing at around 8.0 percent per quarter, India’s unemployment rate remains high. And there are few premier institutes, like the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), where I worked before leaving for Delft.

During my ‘Life After Delft’ struggles, my parents always supported me, but the question that bothered me was: What did I really expect from my life after Delft? Getting a Nuffic scholarship and good grades at TU Delft suddenly seemed to have no meaning at all! Was my degree just worthless paper? Either European companies were unwillingly to arrange a work permit or universities said they had couldn’t hire a non-European student. I began to doubt and question the very credibility of TU Delft!

Dutch society is tolerant and this is what I learnt most from it. Trying to be specific, patient and punctual is what I learnt in Holland and applied in my day-to-day life in India, especially while struggling to find a PhD position.

I finally did receive offers for two PhD positions, one in Sweden, the other in Australia, although the Australian university wanted me to pay the additional AUS 18,000 tuition fees for the PhD work I’d do for them! Things didn’t seem to change, struggles continued and pressure increased, but my hopes remained high. At times it seemed as if ‘Life After Death’ would be more peaceful than my ‘Life After Delft’!

Ultimately however I knew in my heart that ‘my day’ would finally come, that day that brings pulls you out of the circles of uncertainty and moves your life forward. My one year struggle finally ended when I accepted a PhD position in novel polymer science and technology at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Australia’s a beautiful, multicultural country, Melbourne a wonderfully colourful city. I’ve been here for a month now and am enjoying city life to the fullest, following a path that’s leading to a new life and experiences. Sitting on the golden sand beach the other day, I looked back on my life and smiled, feeling a sense of pride in myself for all the lessons I learned in my ‘Life after Delft’ and for finally achieving my goal.”

If you wish to comment on this article, send an email (max. 300 words) to d.mcmullin@tudelft.nl for possible publication on our ‘Letters Page’.

“Memories of my beautiful days spent in Delft still linger. While studying at TU Delft I visited almost every part of Europe and always wished that my Delft days would never end! But time never stops and the brutal face of life, reality, always awaits! Life after Delft has been hard and I struggled mightily to achieve my goals.

This cycle began back in June 2004 when I was preparing to graduate from TU Delft. I wanted to continue my education with a PhD. The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) is a leading institution, so obviously DPI was my first choice. However, my first shock came when I discovered that DPI had no suitable opening for me. Although my first attempt in Holland failed, I remained persistent and began applying to other Dutch universities, but some didn’t even reply to me and others said they had no funding available.

Failing to secure a PhD position in Holland, I had no other options but to search for jobs with European companies. The companies’ replies however were not much different than my PhD efforts: I was shocked to receive negative replies all the time. At this time, my only happy moment came when I received an ‘8’ for my thesis. This I hoped would at least give me a good start back home in India.

It felt good to finally be back home in India, sitting alone on my terrace and thinking about my future action plan. India’s a rapidly growing economy and I hoped to get a good job there – a win-win situation for me, as I’d be working in my home country with a ‘well-reputed’ MSc degree from TU Delft.

In the meantime, I applied to various other universities, from Germany to Australia, hoping for PhD position in Polymer Engineering. But unbelievably most university professors were either sick, away on vacations or merely sent apologies for not having any available PhD positions for me.

My efforts did finally click at one institution in Sweden and at the Max Plank Institute in Germany, which was ready to offer me a PhD position. For this I needed a recommendation letter from one of my TU Delft professors, but after repeated requests and emails, I still didn’t receive the letter. I felt then that this was surely the time to give up my one-year quest to start a PhD!”
Worthless paper

“While applying for jobs in India, I was disappointed to discover that many Indian companies had never heard of TU Delft, and some companies therefore even looked at me and my TU Delft degree with suspicion!

Salaries in India are much lower than in Europe: average Indian salaries range from 300 to 400 euro per month! And with India’s huge population, there are more highly educated people than suitable jobs for them. Hence, even with an economy growing at around 8.0 percent per quarter, India’s unemployment rate remains high. And there are few premier institutes, like the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), where I worked before leaving for Delft.

During my ‘Life After Delft’ struggles, my parents always supported me, but the question that bothered me was: What did I really expect from my life after Delft? Getting a Nuffic scholarship and good grades at TU Delft suddenly seemed to have no meaning at all! Was my degree just worthless paper? Either European companies were unwillingly to arrange a work permit or universities said they had couldn’t hire a non-European student. I began to doubt and question the very credibility of TU Delft!

Dutch society is tolerant and this is what I learnt most from it. Trying to be specific, patient and punctual is what I learnt in Holland and applied in my day-to-day life in India, especially while struggling to find a PhD position.

I finally did receive offers for two PhD positions, one in Sweden, the other in Australia, although the Australian university wanted me to pay the additional AUS 18,000 tuition fees for the PhD work I’d do for them! Things didn’t seem to change, struggles continued and pressure increased, but my hopes remained high. At times it seemed as if ‘Life After Death’ would be more peaceful than my ‘Life After Delft’!

Ultimately however I knew in my heart that ‘my day’ would finally come, that day that brings pulls you out of the circles of uncertainty and moves your life forward. My one year struggle finally ended when I accepted a PhD position in novel polymer science and technology at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Australia’s a beautiful, multicultural country, Melbourne a wonderfully colourful city. I’ve been here for a month now and am enjoying city life to the fullest, following a path that’s leading to a new life and experiences. Sitting on the golden sand beach the other day, I looked back on my life and smiled, feeling a sense of pride in myself for all the lessons I learned in my ‘Life after Delft’ and for finally achieving my goal.”

If you wish to comment on this article, send an email (max. 300 words) to d.mcmullin@tudelft.nl for possible publication on our ‘Letters Page’.

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