A young lady named Aisha Janki Akinola bagged both her Bachelors’ and Master’s degrees with honors from the University of Edinburgh on the same day.
Aisha Akinola is a Nigerian-born lady who moved to the United Kingdom to further her studies. She bagged both of her degrees in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in the United Kingdom.
Aisha earned her high school diploma at Federal Government Sokoto, Nigeria before moving to Ghana for an Advance Levels Program ( the second of three standardized British examinations in a secondary school subject used as a qualification for university entrance).
A year after she completed her A-levels program, she won a Mastercard Foundation scholarship to further her studies. The Mastercard scholarship gives her the opportunity to transfer her bachelor’s degree credits to the Masters’ degree which enabled her to bag both degrees at the same time.
She shared her achievements on her Instagram page with pictures from her graduation describing the success as a win for all her struggles and efforts in a bid to earn the degree. She also added that she was awarded the Sir William Darling Memorial Prize for her contribution to student welfare at the University.
”MA architecture with honor’, University of Edinburgh, I simply could not afford to fail. Too much has gone into this goal, from the Mastercard scholarship to my parents sacrifices and mine too,” Aisha said.
”I could not afford to disappoint myself, so I afforded myself the architecture degree! however tough it might have been to get it. I got it and I got a high five and thumbs up from the Vice Chancellor of my University, ‘she added.
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Aisha highlighted some of the challenges she faced while schooling in the UK. She mentioned that she was depressed, had an accident, heartbroken, and felt indecisive about her career but she remained determined in the midst of all obstacles.
”There was the depression and Covid in 2020, the heartbreaks in 2021, the dissertation in 2022, and the accident in 2023 – all roadblocks attempting to test my resilience and determination to get this degree in the bag,” she explained.
”Throughout this journey, I was my worse critic and it didn’t help that I studied architecture because there was always a lingering feeling that everyone else knew what they were doing and I didnt,” Aisha recalled.
”I later came to find out I was so wrong! We were all pretending to know what we were doing. We were scared but we did it scared,” she added.
She expressed her gratitude to her parent, the Gambian family that adopted her when she moved to the UK, the Mastercard foundation that sponsored her education in the UK, and everyone who played an important role for her to achieve the degree.
”I can’t thank my parents enough for supporting me over the years one way or another. From the Mastercard team, to my fellow Nigerian MCF scholars and my adopted Gambian family and many others I can’t mention in this short post. The things I put them through with my constant questions and cry for help, ‘she said.
Aisha offered a piece of advice to everyone planning to relocate abroad, telling them to always step out of their comfort zone and network with people within their vicinity. She also encouraged students who may feel tiresome about their studies to persevere till they achieve success.
”If there’s one advice I’ll give to someone moving abroad, it’s to get out of your comfort zone, put yourself out there, and connect with people,” she advised.
Aisha is presently a Digital creator, Social media influencer, YouTube Vlogger with millions of subscribers on her channel. She is also the founder of the ‘Black Ed Movement’, an anti-racist organisation founded to uplift and support black people, in particular black students within the University of Edinburgh.