It is certainly a lofty goal.
Second-year Quest University student Ammar Kandil aims to return to his home country of Egypt and build a university.
“I feel I am very average amongst the people I know, and I know for a fact that if other people had gotten the same opportunity that I got, these people would excel in their lives and their careers,” Kandil said.
Kandil attends Quest on a four-year joint scholarship from Quest and Akwanya, The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, which provides chosen African students with financial, academic and mentoring support.
“Otherwise I could not afford to go to school here,” Kandil said. Had he gone to school in Egypt, he said he would have learned technical skills, but would not have made the connections or had the opportunities he has at Quest.
The aim of the program is to create opportunities for African students to study abroad and then return to do something to help their home communities, according to a media release about the program.
“The good thing about it is it is not just like they give me money or they tell me ‘OK, you are going to go to university for free,’ they actually support me throughout that,” Kandil said, adding he has two mentors who are always checking in with him to see whether he is managing well.
The program has been running at Quest for two years, but the information was not released to the public until last week.
The fact that a foundation associated with a multi-national credit card company is paying for his education doesn’t bother Kandil, he said.
“I think it lies within their goal of supporting sub-Saharan African countries,” he said, noting he is one of the few Northern African students to receive the scholarship.
He said he has only dealt with members of the foundation and has never felt any pressure from the corporation.
“We are not really exposed to the corporate side of it,” he said. “There is no interference from MasterCard. The only communications we get is through the foundation and through our mentors.”
He also knows many other students don’t get the same opportunity.
“I try to make the luck count,” he said.
“I think about the fact that I got [the scholarship] and I’ve got to do something with it to help other people get the same education at some point in my life.”
Quest University Canada is the only university in the country to participate in the program, according to a university spokesperson.
“Africa will play an increasingly pivotal role in this globalized century,” David Helfand, president and vice chancellor of Quest said in a news release about the scholarship program. “The unique perspectives these students bring to our seminar-style classrooms are invaluable as part of our effort to graduate global citizens prepared for the challenges and the opportunities of the new millennium.”
As part of the program, Kandil said he will be attending the annual conference for Akwayna students, which is at California’s Stanford University this June. The conference brings all the scholarship students together to network and share ideas.
Through the partnership with the Akwayna program, Quest will bring nine students by next year and will continue each year for the next five years to bring students from Africa to pursue their degrees, according to the university.
