INEMA-Testimonial Sally Yacoub

With time being of essence when studying and trying to juggle everyday life, Sally Yacoub from Egypt was surprised to find the ease in which she adapted to her new lifestyle as a student and being a working mother at the same time. We talked to Sally about her degree and her experiences on the INEMA program.

I am a working mother so when I heard about the INEMA program my main concern was managing my time and trying to combine my job, my son, and a degree course on top of everything else.

The program is an extra-occupational course that allows participants to continue with their jobs while earning the degree. After beginning to study I was relieved to discover that the program was indeed very flexible, and allowed me to do my tasks whenever I had the time. I started to do time management. I learned to do the tasks over two months instead of two weeks. Moreover, I had a fantastic German tandem partner.

Of course, it was not easy. But it’s worth it! I learned to take small steps, one step at a time, while still looking to the future and planning ahead. It is important to be persistent and to keep your eye on the goal. Then it works. If you manage your time well, anything is possible. The INEMA team also supported me a lot. That is exactly what INEMA is about. It is about providing the students with all the flexibility they need to advance their careers in the fields of education and development cooperation. I have been promoted several times within my organization since I started studying, and INEMA had a lot to do with this.

And you get even more: I was allowed to peak into other worlds, other cultures, and another education system. The program is very holistic, very broad. Exploring it was like tasting a new flavor of food. So if you are up for the challenge and open for new experiences, you can taste what you have never tasted before. Even topics that at first did not relate to my work helped me to improve my professional practice – like process management, process development, process improvement. You want to improve your work; you want to do better – but how? They gave me the tools to do better.

Meanwhile I received my Master’s degree, and I had my second child. I am very happy that the extra-occupational concept allowed me to succeed in every area of my life.