Karl Hassan

Karl is taking the Imperial Award because he feels he should take all the opportunities he can so he can support his family in the future. As well as his academic activities Karl has a lot to draw on for the reflective elements of his portfolio. He would particularly like to reflect on.

• His Syrian heritage and being part of a refugee family
• The fact that he is multi-lingual (Arabic, English, and German)
• Aspect of his faith
• His relationship with his cousin who has Down’s Syndrome

He has chosen the following attributes to reflect on in his portfolio. reflective piece.

• Discovery Mindset
• Adaptability
• Critical Thinking
• Open Mindedness

In the documents section below you can see an example of his reflection on Discovery mindest and the feedback he received on it from his peer Tony. You can also see the feedback he provided on Tony’s.

As a practising Muslim Karl does not have a UK Government Student Loan as the interest on the repayments makes the loans Sharia non-compliant. Despite working as much as he can to earn money Karl is still worried about money. He decides to go to the Student Hub to ask for Advice.

They look through the fees and funding webpages with him and the Student funding and Sharia law pages highlight some areas which might be useful. Karl already has a Sharia compliant bank account and has investigated some of the other loan options but he doesn’t think he would be eligible. The Hub advisors recommend that he investigate the Imperial Bursary. The first thing he must do is apply for the means-tested government loan through Student Finance Northern Ireland. This is to enable the Student Loan Company to assess household income to determine the payments that a student is eligible for. Completing the application does not oblige the student to take out the loan.

Karl has good actions from his meeting with the Hub and will direct any follow-up questions to the Student Funding team.