When Farzan Ahmad Khan boarded a plane from Lahore to come to NYU Abu Dhabi for his undergraduate education in 2014, it was the first time he had ever left Pakistan. Twelve years later, the alumnus is heading to the University of Oxford to start a dual-degree.
Khan, 30, has been selected as an Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholar, one of only five recipients worldwide each year, and the first NYU Abu Dhabi alumnus to win the scholarship. The award funds a dual degree, in Khan’s case, an Master of Science in Education, with a specialization in higher education and an MBA.
“It's a very generous scholarship. They pay for tuition for both degrees and living costs. You walk away with two degrees. It is very much a life-changing opportunity, said Khan.
Khan spoke of his excitement at joining the University of Oxford in October.
“I am the first NYUAD alumnus to win this scholarship. The Education Department at Oxford is one of the best in the world, and they're doing some really exciting things… like thinking about AI's intersection with education,” said Khan.
Khan spent a decade at NYUAD, first four years as an undergraduate, and six years as a staff member. During this time, he pursued an engineering degree, coached the NYUAD men’s cricket team, started a NYUAD women’s cricket program, and chaired the university’s staff council.
Journey to NYUAD
Khan graduated from NYUAD in 2018 with a degree in electrical engineering. He had chosen the university for reasons that went beyond academics.
"I felt that because it was such a young university, I could leave some sort of an impact or legacy," he said.
During his candidate weekend visit, he realized there was room to be part of building the university as well as the learning he was eagerly anticipating.
There were a lot of opportunities to experience immersive study experiences throughout the four years. “I was able to study away in New York and do my J-terms in Florence and Paris,” Khan said.
A more intimate education
The exposure to diverse classrooms, faculty, and staff were an invaluable opportunity.
The classrooms were unlike anything he had experienced in Pakistan, where he had studied in classes of 300. At NYUAD, his engineering classes had 20 to 25 students. With a liberal arts curriculum, Khan was also able to take classes in interactive media and political science alongside his engineering courses.
One moment that has stayed with him is when he failed a biology course in his first year. The professor sat with him and shared his own story of academic struggle before finding his way into teaching. "To see someone go into a teaching space made me realize, I can come back from this," said Khan.
Building community on and off the field
Khan only started playing cricket as a student, but he saw a culture in the team that needed to change. "There was very little camaraderie," he said. "There was no vulnerability, there was no opening up."
So when he became head coach of the NYUAD men's cricket team, he set about remaking the program from the ground up: removing the pressure of trials, introducing an English-only rule to make the space more inclusive, and encouraging players to be more open about their struggles. He also established a women's cricket program.
Working in higher education
After graduating, Khan returned to Lahore and joined a health startup developing a low-cost ventilator to address shortages in Pakistan.
"Being in a health space in a third-world country in a government hospital makes you realize and think a lot about impact and privilege and access to resources," he said.
“I thought about what had been the most impactful part of my life by then, and it had been my four years in college. So for me, it was a very logical jump to then go and be a part of other people's transformative journeys."
Khan rejoined NYUAD as a staff member and spent six years at the university, first with the Office of Global Education, helping grow the visiting students program and attracting students to Abu Dhabi, then with the student life office, working on student clubs, student government, and leadership development.
Heading to Oxford
It was his three years on the NYUAD Staff Council, where he served as chair, that helped him take the next step.
"I really cared about staff morale, development, and well-being, and I wanted to work on that. I got such a wide view of the institution,” said Khan.
“I saw how operations work, how organizational development works, and I felt that if I have an MBA and formal training in the financial and business aspects of how education runs, and also the leadership aspect of it, then I can potentially have a more significant impact in my career."
Through the Oxford-Pershing Square scholarship, Khan will complete a Master of Science in Education in the first year, and an MBA in the following year.
"I think it combines the best of both worlds for me, because I get a deeper dive into academics as well as the business side," said Khan, the first Pakistani to receive this scholarship.
In the short term, he wants to work in social impact consulting. In the future, his ambition is to start his own venture that works with universities to help them identify gaps and design solutions.
He hopes to work in the Middle East or Pakistan, where he believes there is significant room for higher education to grow.
“Higher education is such a significant concept in the West. I want to see how we can optimize universities a bit more, but do it not just as a business, but also for the benefit of students, staff, faculty, and all the stakeholders,” he said.
"Being at NYU Abu Dhabi has defined my career vision of wanting to be in education," said Khan. It showed Khan the importance of contributing to something bigger than himself.
