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1.

Tell me about yourself


2. Why do you choose Chevening?
3. Why do you consider yourself as a suitable candidate for Chevening?
4. Why the UK?
5. What's your greatest achievement?
6. What is your advantage?
7. What's your biggest weakness?
8. Talk about your leadership experience and give us a specific example?
9. Describe a leader that you admire and explain why you think this leader is inspiring?
10. Give us example of leader who is close to you and what are the potentials made him to succeed?
11. How is top leadership demonstrated in your current career and how do you intend to rise to that
level?
12. What does networking mean to you and how do you do it? Give us networking examples/ How your
networking benefit the UK?
13. What will be your contributions to global networking of Chevening alumni in UK and in Indonesia when
you come home?
14. What is your plan? How Chevening can help you to achieve your plan?
15. Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
16. How will the UK benefit from selecting you as an awardee? / What you can add to UK through
Chevening?
17. How will your university in the UK benefit from your course you have chosen?
18. What activities would you do while being in the UK besides the academic ones? How you will balance
your time and studies.
19. The specific field of voluntary work that you want to get into when you in the uk?
20. How your social activity will contribute to your univ?
21. What challenges do you think you may have while studying in the UK?
22. What are your expectations from coming year?
23. Tell me 3 cultural values/ aspects of UK you admire?
24. Which UK value that you want to develop in Indonesia?
25. How will your country benefit from your award?
26. What are the problems in your country and how do you hope to benefit your country after returning
from the UK?
27. Most challenging thing regarding your field in your country? how Chevening/studying abroad will help
in solving the problem.
28. What assurance can you give us that your passion in (subject) is sufficient to sustain your career path?
29. What do you think is the main differences between UK and your country?
30. On bilateral relationship, what is your understanding of the priorities of UK for your country and what
impact will you have on this.
31. What are you looking forward to most about sitting in the UK?
32. What if you become a president of Indonesia, what will be your priorities?
33. What is the benefit of ASEM for Indonesia?
34. What is your opinion on the corruption in your country?
35. How can Indonesia contribute towards the world of finance?
36. Why did you choose the subject/particular area?
37. How will you know if a specific university is suitable for you or not? Do you have any criteria?
38. Why did you choose your courses in that particular order?
39. How do you plan to shine from the rest of the chevening scholars who may be outspoken or reserved?
PART ONE
MY SELF

Tell me about yourself

I am Ulfa, I have been graduating in State University of Makassar in Mathematics Department.

Since I was in elementary school, I passionate to mathematics, therefore I always study hard about the
subject and I won a number of mathematics competitions. Because of my experiences, since I studied in my
university, I am always invited by several schools in South Sulawesi for mathematics Olympiad trainings,
such as Bosowa School Makassar, SMPN 3 Makassar, SMPN 5 Soppeng, and so forth. Besides, I am training
my juniors in my university to join mathematics Olympiads.

In addition, I love leadership, socialization, and networking. My initial interest in leading and influencing
sparked since I was mandated as the chairman of an intra-school student organization in my junior high
school. Moreover, during my study in university, I actively involved in several organizations. I enjoyed
events, trainings, and social services I conducted through my organizations.

Why do you choose Chevening?

I am motivated to apply for the Chevening Scholarship because I have a big desire to study in the UK as I
really interest to the academic atmosphere there. The UK performs well in world rankings for its quality
assured education and world-class research. In line with my career interests, pure mathematics courses in
some universities in the UK have a global reputation. Therefore, I believe that I can develop my professional
and academic potency through studying in the UK.

In addition, the Chevening program is more than an academic scholarship. It is a global community of
current scholars and alumni from across the world. Therefore, it would give me a great opportunity to grow
my network by building lasting positive relationships with the UK, other scholars, and other alumni. I
believe that involving in this program will give me a chance to give more influences in my country.

Why do you consider yourself as a suitable candidate for Chevening?

Chevening is looking for an individual who has four strengths, namely strong educational performance,
leadership potential, networking skill, and influences and I can say that I have four of them.

You can see in my transcript that my GPA is great and I was awarded as a best graduate in my department
and even in my faculty. Besides, since in elementary school, I joint a number of mathematics competitions
and won frequently. Those experiences enhanced my mathematical skill and made me qualified for my
work career.

I also have experiences related to leadership. Besides involving in several organizations, I pioneered a
community name TOS Sul-Sel.

Furthermore, as I always join competitions, I have many friends, not only from my university but also in the
other universities and not only in the same age but also who are elder and younger than me.
In addition, I have influences to my country. Due to the lack of university Olympiad preparation books, I
composed a mathematics Olympiad book. My book then was published in several universities and
influenced some other Olympians to write related books. My book is used for preparing university students
to join mathematics Olympiad.

Why the UK?

I have a big desire to study in the UK as I really interest to the academic atmosphere there. The UK
performs well in world rankings for its quality assured education and world-class research. In line with my
career interests, pure mathematics courses in some universities in the UK have a global reputation.
Therefore, I believe that I can develop my professional and academic potency through studying in the UK.

The UK is one of countries in the world with most cultural diversity which is also apparent in its higher
education institutions. Britain is multi-cultural, multi-faith, and multi-lingual. Living in the UK will be a great
opportunity to me experiencing more culture and networking.

What's your greatest achievement?

In 2016, I joint Pertamina Science Olympiad, one of prestige Olympiads in my country in national level.
From more than eleven thousands participants from all over Indonesia, I was selected as one of eleven
participants entering final round as my score was the highest among the participants from the Sulawesi
region. The final round was very challenging for me as I have to compete with other excellent students
from great reputation universities.

Therefore, I spent much of my time reviewing several matters in mathematics and also learnt about some
new concepts. Thanks God, I was the runner up.

Because of that achievement, the research and technology and higher education ministry of Indonesia gave
me a golden ticket for a yearly competition that most of science students desiring, it is ON MIPA PT.
Because of the ticket, while other students had to join audition from university level, and then regional
level, I was directly selected as a finalist in the national level.

In addition, because of my accomplishment, I am invited as a mathematics trainer for several schools.


Besides, I have a chance to write a book about questions and solution about that Olympiad occurring from
2008-2016. The book is used by many undergraduates from some universities. Besides, I had a chance to
socialize with many other excellent students from other universities.

What is your advantage?

I am academic and diligent as I always use my time studying mathematics. Besides, I am adaptable and
friendly as I like involving in some organizations and making new friends.

What's your biggest weakness?


I believe that every people have their own limitation, especially myself. I had difficulty in memorizing a
concept. Therefore my scores for History and Sociology in secondary school were not as high as my scores
for science. To overcome my weakness, during my study in mathematics major, if I have to memorize a
theorem, I always make a note, illustrate it first by some stretches on a paper, and then imagine it.
PART TWO
LEADERSHIP

Talk about your leadership experience and give us a specific example?

Due to my visionary about the enhancement of science in South Sulawesi and belief in the strength of an
organization to promote it, I persuaded my colleagues to pioneer a community, namely TOS Sul-Sel (Tim
Olimpiade Sains Sulawesi Selatan/South Sulawesi Science Olympiad Team). In this community, I
empowered school and university students to join science Olympiad by training and motivating them. My
action then inspired the students of other departments in UNM to form similar organizations.

One of events presented by TOS Sul-Sel is Tosca (TOS Science Championship) 2017. This competition was
dedicated to South Sulawesi high school students as a motivation for them to learn, socialize, and compete.
In this event, I was mandated as a chairman. I contacted Olympians from some other universities to support
the event by inviting them to be motivators, advertisers, problem writers, and judges. We finally gathered
458 participants and run the event successfully. It was an honor and proud to observe that from a number
of schools that participated in the event, most of them were newcomers in the science Olympiad.

Describe a leader that you admire and explain why you think this leader is inspiring?

A leader that I admire is the former president of Indonesia, Habibie, because he is the academic scientist
politician. He was born in Pare-pare, South Sulawesi, the same with me. He studied seriously for five years,
at the Department of Aircraft Design and Construction in Germany.

He has numerous influences in Indonesia by his optimist and ambition. He made actual manufacturing of
the planes placed as the first objective. Under Habibie's leadership Indonesia could construct its own
aircraft in 1995. Besides, he made significant changes to political system that expanded competition
and freedom of speech. Shortly after taking office, Habibie's government lifted the previous president’s
restriction on political parties and ended censorship by dissolving the Information Ministry. In addition, he
successfully reduced the value of rupiah to dollar from 15,000 to less than 10,000.

To sum up, I admire Habibie because of his intelligence, perseverance, dynamism, and bravery.

Give us example of leader who is close to you and what are the potentials made him to succeed?

I can mention that my father is a great leader. He was a first headmaster in a new senior high school in my
hometown. His perseverance and creativeness succeeded in pioneering the new school and managing the
teachers and staffs. His networking skill enabled him promote the school to the government and societies.
He is hard working in running his duties.

How is top leadership demonstrated in your current career and how do you intend to rise to that level?

What does networking mean to you and how do you do it? Give us networking examples/ How your
networking benefit the UK?
Networking is not just about making friends and acquaintances. More than that, it is creating relationships
and forming a connection with people you would like to know better who may have an impact or
contribution to your professional life such as a change in career or a growth in business. More importantly,
the process itself is a two-way street, meaning you develop new relations that can be to your advantage
and at the same time, you get to offer a benefit in return.

I managed several organizations, such as a student research institute, namely LPM Penalaran UNM. From
that institute, I gained many excellent experiences related to networking. When I was mandated as fund
and business department in an event for example, I had chance to negotiate and then succeeded in gaining
fund from more than ten companies. In addition, as the result of the institute’s training, I had many
opportunities to socialize and work together with other organizations by being a facilitator, mentor, or
speaker in scientific writing and research trainings. Moreover, when I was appointed as a steering
committee in an event, I was capable to encourage and facilitate the students in my university to learn
about research methodology and organization management.

The skill enhanced through my organizations will prepare me to socialize with my peers in campus and
environment. Besides, I can share my experiences about UK to my relatives.

What will be your contributions to global networking of Chevening alumni in UK and in Indonesia when
you come home?

During my study in the UK I can help Chevening alumni in the UK to grow and expand their networking. I
will join university meeting club and will invite other cheveners to my club meeting or seminars at the
school. So they can give a talk and help us and share us to expand our knowledge on the specific knowledge
and topic. This will grow the chevening network with my university.

After I came home I would like to join UK alumni in Indonesia as well as work as alumni adviser and I will
coach new scholars and fellows who are starting their Chevening experience by sharing my knowledge
about what it’s like to live and study in the UK. In addition I can mentor new alumni, who have recently
completed their course to help them plan how to maximize the academic and personal experience they
gained through Chevening.
PART THREE
PLAN

What is your plan? How Chevening can help you to achieve your plan?

Due to my passion for mathematics, education, and research in Indonesia, I pursue to be a professional
teacher with high rate in scientific paper publishing. To attain that long-term goal, I have two short-term
goals. They are being a mathematics teacher or algebra lecturer and conducting research related to
mathematics. After completing my study, I would return to Indonesia to apply insights, knowledge, and
experience gained from the science magister degree.

Chevening will give me an opportunity to study in the UK performing well in world rankings for its quality
assured education and world-class research. In line with my career interests, pure mathematics courses in
some universities in the UK have a global reputation. Therefore, I believe that I can develop my professional
and academic potency through studying in the UK.

In addition, Chevening would give me a great opportunity to grow my network by building lasting positive
relationships with other scholars and alumni. Numbering 48,000 worldwide Chevening Alumni constitute an
influential and highly-regarded global network. They have an excellent record of rising to positions of
leadership across a wide range of fields, such as science and technology. I believe that many of them have
the same interest in research. Therefore, we can share about our experiences. Besides, I need to learn from
other cheveners who has got the experience in same field.

Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

I have always been focused on achieving a qualified mathematics teacher. As I move towards that goal, I am
aware that the education industry is very competitive market, so I plan using the next five years to polish
my teaching skill and mathematics comprehension.

How will the UK benefit from selecting you as an awardee? / What you can add to UK through
Chevening?

I will help spread the British values wherever I am and I will talk about the benefits of studying in the UK
and I would be role model of UK educated person being the leader and professional employee among my
peers. This will encourage others and will make UK famous for Indonesian people and reputation of UK
education will rise in my country.

Furthermore, other UK students will have an opportunity to learn from me about the rich history of
Indonesia, Indonesian cultures and people in terms of politics, culture and traditions.

Moreover, I believe, as Chevening Scholars, we serve as envoys between the UK and our home countries
and have an obligation to promote mutual understanding and push for a win-win scenario.

How will your university in the UK benefit from your course you have chosen?
What activities would you do while being in the UK besides the academic ones? How you will balance
your time and studies.

I will join student association of University. This has many benefits such as I will develop my skills in
leadership and management, expand my networking, and gain some experience in dealing with
international students with different backgrounds and broaden my cultural awareness.

I will go to networking events, conferences, symposiums, talks and will attend to the activities which will
offer me more opportunities to network with other cheveners and organizations through these activities.

I will travel around and discover the UK to learn more about people and their cultures and histories. I want
to see the icons and museums there, such as London Eye, Big Ben, the Royal Armories, and so on.

For balancing my time, I should organize my daily, weekly, and monthly schedule well as I did during my
undergraduate. I will avoid procrastination and distraction doing my university assignments. Besides, I have
started reading materials related to the course I selected based on its syllabus possibly making me will not
spend too much time understanding base concepts.

The specific field of voluntary work that you want to get into when you in the uk?

I want to involve in environmental projects helping children or the homeless in field of education.

How your social activity will contribute to your univ?

What challenges do you think you may have while studying in the UK?

Master’s courses in the UK typically last for one year, which is shorter than many other countries. It is
hugely transformational and the time management will be the hard one. I should do many things within
one year. Such as while studying in the UK I am going to make networking with other country’s future
leaders besides studying hard. I will study with global leaders and the best students. I am going to learn
from them and which will require great effort. Also I should spend time to communicate with my family
and friends.

What are your expectations from coming year?

The coming year will be very worthwhile, busy, and enjoyable at the same time. I will study in my master
degree and do many other things to gain more experiences.

I expect that I will be taught with high quality education. I expect the more advanced professional
knowledge, high standardized courses and newest management techniques, team work skills, and
communication skills that I cannot learn in my country.

Besides, I hope I can enhance my skill by participating in many networking events, such as joining a student
association in university, go to conferences, symposiums, talks, and travel around and discover the UK to
learn more about people and their cultures and histories.
I hope those activities will make me adapt to the busy and effective lifestyle and all the skills and
experiences will help me to become future leader.

PART FOUR
CONTRIBUTION FOR MY COUNTRY

Tell me 3 cultural values/ aspects of UK you admire?

Firstly, the UK performs well in world rankings for its education and research. Secondly, the UK is one of
countries in the world with most cultural diversity which is also apparent in its higher education
institutions. Thirdly, The UK has internationally-acclaimed creative industries that have consistently
generated global talents such as the Beatles, J.K. Rowling, Sean Connery, Vivienne Westwood, and Damien
Hirst.

Which UK value that you want to develop in Indonesia?

I want to develop the academic and research atmospheres in Indonesia since they are essential in
stimulating sustainable development. I believe that attaining a career as a lecturer will give me a great
chance to develop them by applying knowledge and experience I gain from the UK in conducting them and
training my students about them.

How will your country benefit from your award? (Short-term, Long-term plans, professionally and
academically)

What are the problems in your country and how do you hope to benefit your country after returning
from the UK?

Most challenging thing regarding your field in your country? how Chevening/studying abroad will help in
solving the problem.

What assurance can you give us that your passion in (your subject) is sufficient to sustain your career
path?

What do you think is the main differences between UK and your country?

I think the quality and system of education in both countries is far different. A rank based on a perception-
based global survey attributed the UK as the top one. Besides, the UK is home to two of the top 10 best
global university.

In addition, according to PISA in 2015, while the literacy skill including reading and mathematics for the UK
students is the best 15, Indonesia is the lowest nine.
Besides, an eleven years Britain student is given the freedom to concentrate in science, local science, or
literature. The same freedom is given for Indonesia students in the year of 16.

In Indonesia system, teachers emphasize on memorizing textbooks and when it comes to exam, students
can ace it simply by throwing the result of their memorizing. However in British system, students have to
not only understand the topic but also be analytical at the same time to compose good quality writing.

On bilateral relationship, what is your understanding of the priorities of UK for your country and what
impact will you have on this.

The UK has six priority areas in Indonesia, namely supporting British nationals in Indonesia, promoting
human rights, safeguarding Britain’s national security from Indonesia, working with the Association of
South East Asian nations, addressing climate change and supporting Indonesia to achieve low carbon
growth, and improving business with Indonesia.

What are you looking forward to most about sitting in the UK?

As well as studying in a world-leading university, I am looking forward most about great networking.
Chevening Alumni most enthusiastic, passionate and best people from all over the world and they are
chosen to make a world better place.

What if you become a president of Indonesia, what will be your priorities?

I will prioritize the enhancement education and research.

What is the benefit of ASEM for Indonesia?

ASEM stands for Asia-Europe Meeting. For Indonesia’s foreign politics, ASEM is a bridge build to lessen the
gap between the two regions. Cooperation in the field of economy is enforced through ASEM. ASEM is also
one of the media for Indonesia to strengthen its position among Asian countries and cooperative with
Europe. Besides, Indonesia entwines a project entitled “Trade Related Technical Assistance” worthy of
more than 11 million euro.

What is your opinion on the corruption in your country?

I think corruption is a serious impediment for business in Indonesia. It is massive, systematic, and
organized. The issue of political corruption in Indonesia continues to make daily headlines in the Indonesia
medias and generated much heated debate and fierce discussion. By a corruption perceptions index,
Indonesia is the 90 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries. There are numerous major corrupt cases in
Indonesia, such as the providing of Indonesian Identity Card taking approximately 2.3 billion rupiah.
How can Indonesia contribute towards the world of finance?
PART FIVE
MY STUDY

Why did you choose the subject/particular area?

I decided to attain a career as a teacher and a researcher for having a contribution in education and
science. I passionate to the field of mathematics, particularly abstract algebra. Therefore, I need a pure or
science mathematics course and concentrate on algebra in a world-leading research university.

How will you know if a specific university is suitable for you or not? Do you have any criteria?

Yes, I have criteria. Firstly I see the course details and subjects of the university and their requirements. I
prioritize a university providing more courses in algebra since I want to focus on it. Besides, I see the rank of
universities based on their mathematics departments. Furthermore I check their research excellence,
diversity, modernism and facilities. I have chosen University of Nottingham (the best 10), University of
Leeds (the best 12), and University of Sheffield (the best 31).

Why did you choose your courses in that particular order?

I order those universities base on several considerations.

1. I prioritize the University of Nottingham because it is the tenth best. The range of research activities in
the mathematical sciences is extremely broad. Mathematics research students also have access to
specialized mathematical training course as those provided by Mathematics Access Grid Conference Group.
Most of courses are graded by assignment, presentation, and examination.

2. The mathematics course at the University of Leeds is the twelfth best in the UK. Lecturers will give me
materials for every lecture sometimes ahead of the class and most of the lectures delivered are recorded,
meaning I can download the lectures and watch again at my comfortable time. However, most of courses
here are graded 100% by examination.

3. The University of Sheffield is the best 31.

How do you plan to shine from the rest of the chevening scholars who may be outspoken or reserved?

I am going to study hard to be the best student in the university. I want to make others amazed by my
hardworking and learning ability which will represent the not only my intelligence but also show the
potential of Indonesian people.

Alongside this I will be incredibly active, participate in conferences and symposiums organized by
Chevening. I will be the first person for all the activities that organized by Universities and I can give talks
representing Indonesia and students in my field, and will take part in workshop sessions.
Tuition fee and requirement for universities

Nottingham (16,700 IELTS 6.0), Leeds (19,500 IELTS 6.5), Sheffield (18,700 IELTS 6.5)

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