June 10, 2007

explains how student organisations abroad can help enhance the college experience

THE experience of going to college abroad entails more than just attending long hours of classes and cramming for exams. Getting involved with various campus organisations can make college life a lot more rewarding, help you broaden your interests and give rise to life-long friendships. These out-of-class experiences complement and enhance the formal classroom experience.

One of the most common questions that I encountered during the recruiting season in my interviews was how I was involved on campus outside of classrooms. Recruiters are looking for individuals who are actively involved in various campus activities with emphasis on the specific role of those individuals in different student organisations. This is because they want to get a general sense of how much a candidate has worked in groups and what has been his/her contribution to a team. This helps recruiters to evaluate a candidate’s competence and the possibility of his/her effectiveness while working with a team in their firm.

Candidates reserve a huge chunk of the space on their resumes to highlight their activities in campus organisations. This helps them a great deal when they are being screened for interviews. A resume that stands out from the lot is definitely one which states a strong GPA, relevant past experience and a significant involvement in student organisations.

While holding ‘important’ positions is not necessary, still it gives the recruiters specific information about what exactly the candidate has done in that organisation. For example, for Finance or Accounting majors looking for full-time jobs and internships in investment banks, consultancies, auditing firms etc., involvement as a financial director or a treasurer can be very important. However, other positions such as events coordinator, technical assistants and an executive secretary can also help. Although all these positions reflect the candidate’s leadership skills, still higher positions such as that of president and vice president definitely give a better impression about the candidate’s leadership capabilites.

Other than getting an opportunity to get hands-on leadership experience and organisational skills, involvement in student organisations on campuses also entail many social benefits. For starters, student organisations provide a very solid platform to meet new people and make friends. Almost all student organisations host social events such as coffee hours, treasure hunts etc., just to break the ice between the old and new members of the organisation. Other than this, when one enters a campus that comprises almost 50,000 students, one tends to look for association with a certain social group that shares his/her culture, interests, career choices etc. Familiar patterns and norms of interaction, socialisation and modes of communication can aid in student satisfaction and retention.

That’s where the role of culturally specific organisations pitches in. A culturally specific organisation is a group that is related to a specific culture by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion. The purpose of these groups is to address the needs and concerns of specific cultural communities. Students who join such organisations get a sense of grounding, familiarity and community through their involvement. It also caters to a basic social need which is crucial to the psychological well-being of a student; that is, being able to be who you are without any question or apology.

So what possibilities are there for Pakistani international students to get involved in such culturally-specific student organisations in universities abroad? For starters, Pakistani students who are aspiring to go abroad for higher education should know that every well-known university has a Pakistani student organisation that caters to all people of Pakistani descent.

One cannot stress enough on the fact that such organisations can promote a positive image of the country abroad. Higher educational institutions all over the world are a very political place and a breeding ground for future intellectuals. The attitude and perception of the workforce abroad about Pakistanis can be greatly influenced by the way Pakistani student organisations project their country’s image on campuses.

Organisations in universities abroad typically perform the same function but each one is different in terms of the events that they organise and the kind of services they provide to Pakistani students.

PSA was formed in 1971 by a handful of creative geniuses with the sole purpose of giving the Pakistanis on campus a chance to experience their culture. By leaps and bounds PSA has come a long way in those 36 years and the journey had been anything but a walk in a park. The officers who have served PSA during different semesters know exactly what kind of hurdles the organization has faced in getting its name out there. PSA has organized many cultural and social events during the past few years and has been providing assistance to all the Pakistani students on campus in a wide range of issues.

Services provided to international Pakistani students by PSA are noteworthy. PSA works with them on an individual basis to help them take off in an altogether new environment. Services provided to the new students range from helping them get a driver’s license, local state IDs, housing search, room-mate hunting to airport pick-up and even arrangements for temporary accommodation with fellow Pakistani students. So, the first resort to get assistance for a confused and lost Pakistani international student (just like I was a year ago) is definitely PSA at UT Austin.

PSA has been regularly organizing social and cultural activities such as Basant, Eid Banquets, live concerts, career panels, cricket world cup screening, cricket matches, movie nights, hookah socials, Antakshari etc. But one event that has been one of the most prominent highlights of PSA is the annual event “Basant-A Celebration of Spring”. This event marked the arrival of spring in Austin, TX in a typical Pakistani way. With fashion show, live music, Kite-flying, cotton candies, urdu skits, and 500 audience, Basant brought into spotlight Pakistani culture at its vibrant best in Austin.

One of the major achievements of PSA in terms of community service has been the “Earthquake Relief” program initiated right after the Oct 2005 earthquake in Pakistan by the then president of the organization, Kazim Khoja. Through this program PSA was able to raise up to 10000 dollars that were donated to different charity organizations Pakistan. The money was raised through different fund raising programs such as candle night vigils and rallies that involved not only the Pakistani students but also the members of Pakistani community in Austin.

The writer studies at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

Amin Khoja, a recent MPA graduate from The University of Texas at Austin, has been very actively involved in different student organisations such as University Finance Association, University Investors Association and Pakistani Students’ Association. He has served as President of Pakistani Students’ Association twice and also holds an officer position in a co-ed South Asian fraternity, Delta Phi Beta. Currently working as a financial consultant in New York City, Khoja has a lot to say about his experience with student organisations especially Pakistani Student Association and how it has helped him climb the corporate ladder.

Q: How exactly has your involvement in student organisations helped you in your recruiting process?

A: It definitely does reflect your leadership skills. But I would say that unless you are not able to communicate effectively about how you have handled your leadership position in an organisation in an interview, it wouldn’t be a merit to you. So developing strong communication skills is also detrimental along with leadership skills. Students who have been actively involved in student organisations definitely have an edge over the others. Recruiters point out specifically the organisations listed on the candidate’s resume and ask specific questions about the candidate’s involvement in them.

Q: Does involvement in a Pakistani student organisation merit the same credit on a resume as in involvement in any other student organisation given the image of Pakistan in the US?

A: At times, recruiters can get carried away by the type of organisation the candidate has been involved in, especially post 9/11. But it is up to the candidate how effectively he or she is able to convince the recruiter during the interview that s/he has what it takes to be hired. One way to do it would be to focus on speaking more about what the recruiter is exactly looking for; that is, knowledge about different aspects of group dynamics such as leadership skills, challenges of working in teams, organisational behaviour, group decision making, conflict resolution, motivating group members, evaluating the group’s performance, etc.

Q: When you took over PSA, it had a very bad reputation on campus. What steps did you take to revitalise its image?

A: The year that I took over PSA, it was a dead organisation to say the least, the reason being that not many students wanted to be associated with PSA because the case of a few Pakistani students being expelled from the University for forging their transcripts the same year was fresh in everyone’s mind. Other than that, post 9/11, PSA already had a very low profile. I started by adding new cultural events to PSA’s portfolio to get its name out there. Events such as Eid dinner, movie nights, Antakshari, etc., had never been organised by PSA before. We made sure they were publicised and we even started getting coverage from the local newspaper after these events. So that uplifted PSA’s profile to a great extent.

Q: Describe your experience with PSA.

A: It was hours of hard work, dedication and frustration but at the end of the day, it was all worth it. because by raising the profile of PSA on campus I had put Pakistan on the map of Austin. n — A.H.