With outstanding academic results, undergraduate student Amit Bhattacharjee had a number of universities courting him with scholarship offers. So what made him decide to study Biomolecular Sciences at Macquarie with a MUIS scholarship?

“Macquarie’s reputation as a world-class, research-intensive university is what attracted me the most,” he says. “Macquarie’s teachers in this discipline are truly phenomenal.”

Having held a long-time fascination with biology and chemistry, Amit is undertaking the highly flexible Bachelor of Science at Macquarie, and is aiming for a research career after he graduates.

“My home country of Bangladesh is an unfortunate victim of climatic change and it is expected that large areas of the country will be flooded if the sea level continues to rise at the current rate,” he says. “There is a lot of research required in order to find crop species that can tolerate abiotic stresses like salinity and submergence but there is a scarcity of expert biomolecular scientists.”

“With the qualifications and research skills I will gain at Macquarie, I’ll be able to make valuable contributions to these research projects and create a better Bangladesh.

Amit says that although coming to Australia to study was a daunting prospect, the support he has received as an international student has been ‘extraordinary’.

“Everyone is so nice and understanding,” he says “The transition to life halfway across the globe has been made a lot easier.”

He adds that he has received more than just ‘assistance’ from University staff.

“I prefer to use the word ‘affection’,” he notes. “Because each and every person I have asked for help here has gone out of their way to make sure I was comfortable.”

“It’s truly is something I’ll cherish forever.”

28 majors are available in the Bachelor of Science, including Biomolecular Sciences, Climate Science, Electronics, Environmental Management, Photonics and Statistics.