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Issa Al Shabibi

The PhD Sociology student talks about how Cardiff University met all of his expectations.

Portrait shot of a man in a white shirt. He is looking into the camera.

Student name: Issa Al Shabibi
Course title: PhD Sociology
Country: Oman

"What a crucial decision for any overseas student to make when it comes to studying abroad, especially if it is the UK – in my opinion, Cardiff is one among a few that offers a high standard tertiary education worldwide.

It was not easy for me, choosing a school that met my expectations – and one where I met its candidacy criteria. My top priority was finding the supervisor that has similar expertise of what I will be looking at in my doctoral programme.

The second priority was the ranking of the university and the ranking of school I will apply to. Usually, rankings are based on certain indicators such as employer reputation, students’ satisfaction, academic reputation and research impact.

For me, the research impact ranking matters more than the others, bearing in mind that I work in the research sector and will carry on in the same sector once I complete my PhD programme.

Then, it comes to other factors such as the living expenses, the weather, the access to public services and health facilities – Cardiff meets all of these expectations for me.”