Mahgoub Mohamed, a Sudanese international student studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Mahgoub Mohamed

It has always been one of my goals to study at a prestigious university abroad and whilst applying to universities, the University of Leeds stood out as one of the best universities within the field of engineering. After researching the institution I understood that it is a Russell Group university, reflecting the quality of research at the university. After visiting the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering I saw the quality of teaching and the available equipment for students and this was a large motivation to further pursue my degree at the University of Leeds.

The best aspect of the Electronic and Electrical Engineering course is how technical the course is; within most of the modules, there are lab sessions that teach students the technical issues within the field and how to approach them. The depth of the technical side of the course is outstanding, labs demonstrate a variety of topics ranging from electric drives to communications networks and circuit analysis. This is a very important characteristic of the course to me as I am a hands-on person and interested in solving real-world problems. 

During my first year, I worked on a group project to design and build a wirelessly controlled buggy which taught students the basics of circuit theory and analysis. However, my favourite project so far has been the embedded systems project; where I designed, built and programmed a gamepad to run a platforming game. This project was very interesting and pushed me into the field of embedded systems which is what my final year project is based around.

Leeds is a very vibrant city with a lot of entertainment venues that offer deals and discounts for students. It is a beautiful city and an affordable place to live for students. There are plenty of fun activities and societies that are available to students, both around and off campus. Other sites to visit include the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Leeds Art Gallery and Museum. 

My short term goal is to complete a summer internship that will enable me to implement the knowledge I have gained and apply it within a role in the industry. This will help me to recognise different fields in the industry while applying for a graduate job. One of my long term goals is to become a chartered engineer within the field of electronic engineering.

Some of the most useful skills I have gained at Leeds are time and project management. With proper planning and good use of these skills, completing a large piece of independent work or a project in an organised and professional manner is very straightforward and I think this will help me greatly in my future career.

While studying at Leeds, I recommend you get involved in all the activities and events available, this makes it getting settled in and making friends with people within your course easier. This isn’t an easy course and it will require a lot of effort and dedication to get the most out of it but that doesn’t mean you will not enjoy your time doing it.