When Kashfia Kaba Shejuti thinks about her university days at the University of Dhaka, she does not begin with a scholarship application, an academic result or a career plan. She begins with films, friends, dance and the familiar chaos of TSC.

A regular at TSC, a member of the Dhaka University Film Society and a Dance Associate at the Dhaka University Cultural Society from its inception, she spent much of her undergraduate life immersed in films, cultural activities and friends’ programmes. If you looked for her around campus, chances were you would find her somewhere in the middle of something. Or at TSC.

Academics, meanwhile, were a work in progress.

“I didn’t navigate university with the flawless, ‘save-the-day’ optimism of Elle Woods in ‘Legally Blonde’,” she says. Instead, she compares her undergraduate years to Max Fischer, the ambitious, perpetually overextended protagonist of Wes Anderson’s ‘Rushmore’.

The film references are fitting. She was spending much of her bachelor’s degree immersed in cinema, surrounded by people and trying out different things. Her academic results were not extraordinary from the beginning, but she gradually improved and eventually finished her bachelor’s degree in second position.

Looking back, Shejuti’s university life seems to have contained the beginnings of several different careers. What eventually brought them together was a subject she had not originally planned to study, a scholarship she almost missed out on and a willingness to keep going when the next step was anything but obvious.

Today, she works as a Case Officer at the Charity Commission for England and Wales, assessing registered charities and helping ensure they operate within the law. The journey from Dhaka University to the British public sector has taken her through several European countries, a demanding scholarship process, financial difficulties, a competitive job market and the uncomfortable business of learning to trust herself.

It has also taught her that an impressive achievement and an uncertain person can exist in the same body.

A crime-fiction obsession that became a career

Growing up, she loved reading Agatha Christie and was obsessed with Tin Goyenda. The world of mysteries, clues and investigations appealed to her, as did the broader ideas of law, order, discipline and security.

Discovering that the University of Dhaka offered a subject called Criminology felt like finding something that brought those interests together.

What she could not have known then was how far the discipline might eventually take her beyond the conventional boundaries of crime and criminal justice.

Her undergraduate education gave her a foundation in crime, governance and justice. It also introduced her to discussion-based learning and practical exposure, including opportunities to interact with Criminal Investigation Department officials who demonstrated aspects of investigative work.

She is particularly proud of the academic culture at her department, which she believes reflects European standards despite being relatively new and operating with limited resources. She realised the value of that preparation more fully after moving abroad. Studying overseas allowed her to build on that foundation and explore fields that had received less attention during her undergraduate degree, including intelligence analysis, security strategy and risk management.

During her Erasmus Mundus programme, she had the opportunity to take intelligence-related courses taught by former intelligence professionals.

“Learning directly from people who had worked in the field gave me insights that textbooks alone could never provide,” she says.

Those experiences helped her narrow a broad interest in security into a more specific focus on social media governance and open-source intelligence.

The spreadsheet, the sleepless nights and the reserve list

Shejuti did not begin planning for postgraduate study immediately after graduation. By the time she started considering scholarships seriously, she had accumulated almost two years of professional research experience, alongside research projects she had worked on as an undergraduate.

She considered several options, including Chevening, Commonwealth, Australia Awards and Fulbright, before settling on Erasmus Mundus as the strongest fit for her academic and professional background.

The decision was practical rather than impulsive. She spent countless nights researching programmes, comparing opportunities and figuring out where her profile might stand the best chance.

During the applications, she maintained separate folders for different scholarships and used an Excel spreadsheet to track university deadlines. She began writing her statements of purpose before sitting for the IELTS examination and kept editing them from early October until the January submission deadline. She sought feedback from seniors, colleagues and people whose judgement she trusted, but ultimately submitted the version she felt represented her best.

She applied to two Erasmus Mundus programmes.

One application was rejected because the programme did not accept online certificates from Bangladesh and required hard copies to be sent by air post, a cost she could not afford.

The other was the International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (IMSISS).

Initially, she received an offer to study through self-funding. For a programme she had hoped to pursue on a full scholarship, it felt like a near miss.

Eventually, she was offered the scholarship after being drawn from the reserve list. Her strong performance in the programme helped her secure a full award, including monthly stipends for the duration of her studies.

The moment she found out is a story she remembers with particular affection.

She was at her friend Prethee’s place, celebrating an important event in Prethee’s life, when the email arrived. Shejuti screamed and threw her phone away. Prethee picked it up, read the message aloud and began crying before Shejuti had fully processed what had happened.

It mattered that Prethee was there. She was the friend who had first convinced Shejuti to apply for the programme, the same person who had sat behind her in examination halls throughout their university years.

Prethee is now a scholar herself.

Looking back, Shejuti feels it was fitting that the person who helped her take the first step was also there when the opportunity finally became real.

The part of studying abroad that brochures leave out

Winning a scholarship does not always mean the hard part is over. For Shejuti, navigating Europe’s visa system with a Bangladeshi passport was one of the most difficult parts of studying abroad. With several countries lacking embassies in Bangladesh, students often had to travel to Delhi for visa procedures, adding costs and paperwork to an already demanding journey.

Shejuti could not return to Bangladesh to apply for a Czech study visa. The flight alone would have cost more than her monthly stipend, forcing her to complete the semester within three months and sit her final examination virtually.

Over two years, she also faced financial pressure, subtle racism and the challenge of staying close to family and friends from afar. But the programme gradually sharpened her professional interests, particularly in social media governance and open-source intelligence. Learning from international security professionals and experiencing different cultures helped her understand both the field she wanted to pursue and the person she was becoming.

Hundreds of applications, a McDonald’s job and the slow way forward

After completing her master’s, Shejuti faced another challenge: finding work in the United Kingdom. An international degree had opened doors, but turning it into a career proved to be a different struggle.

The job market was competitive, with skilled professionals already in the country competing for opportunities. She began planning her career during her second semester in Dublin, building her LinkedIn profile and applying for roles related to her field. Looking back, however, she admits that her approach came at a cost.

“I ended up burning myself out by submitting hundreds of applications every week,” she says.

Before securing her current position, Shejuti worked at McDonald’s and at a debt collection agency as a Financial Advisor. These were not the jobs she had imagined when she began her postgraduate journey, but they became important steps towards the career she wanted. It took her about a year to gain enough UK office experience to put herself in a stronger position to apply for her current role.

The process was slow and exhausting, teaching her that an international degree does not automatically translate into employment abroad. Academic qualifications matter, but so do practical experience, communication skills and an understanding of the local professional environment.

She now encourages students to think about their careers before graduation rather than waiting until their degrees are complete. “The scholarship prepares you for academic rigour, but preparing for the job market is something you have to do yourself,” she says.

Today, Shejuti works as a Case Officer at the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Her responsibilities include reviewing charities’ governing documents and legal submissions, applying the Charities Act 2011, and conducting regulatory assessments to ensure registered charities operate within the law.

The role demands extensive reading, critical analysis, sound judgement and communication with stakeholders across government, the charity sector and the public. Her background in Criminology continues to serve her well. It taught her to ask the right questions, assess risks and look beyond what is immediately apparent. When a case raises concerns about potential wrongdoing, governance or safeguarding, these skills help her determine whether it requires further investigation or escalation.

For those who associate Criminology exclusively with policing or criminal justice, the connection may not be immediately obvious. But Shejuti’s career reflects how the discipline’s core skills can extend into fields such as regulation, compliance and governance. Her journey has taken her far from the career path many might expect of a Criminology graduate, without leaving the skills she developed behind.

The outgoing person who still doubts herself

From the outside, Shejuti may seem like someone who has always been comfortable around people. At university, she was active in societies and campus life, but her outgoing personality did not mean she was free from social anxiety.

“I still have it,” she says of imposter syndrome.

Moving abroad brought new cultures, communication styles and professional expectations, forcing her to find her place in unfamiliar environments. She believes Bangladesh’s education system builds strong academic foundations but does not always prepare students for networking, communication or the realities of professional life. A lack of supportive guidance, she adds, can leave capable students struggling to recognise their own abilities.

Shejuti has gradually learned to approach that uncertainty differently. Instead of asking herself, “Do I even deserve this?”, she now asks: “I have achieved it. Now, what can I do to make it even better?”

Rather than measuring herself against others, she focuses on the person she hopes to become. The doubt has not disappeared, but she has learned to keep moving despite it.

That perseverance has been tested through repeated rejections, unfamiliar environments, learning another language, working late shifts to make ends meet and finding time to look after herself along the way.

Her achievements are visible. The quieter work of getting there is often less so.

The friends who change the direction of a life

For all the importance of academic performance and professional experience, Shejuti attributes a surprising amount of her growth to a decision that can seem almost incidental during university: the friends she chose to keep around her. The people who stood beside her, challenged her and encouraged her to take chances have especially played a part in getting her where she is today. A friend first encouraged her to apply for Erasmus Mundus and was beside her when the scholarship email finally arrived. Sometimes, the people around us see possibilities that we are not yet brave enough to pursue ourselves.

She hopes students at Dhaka University will carry that same openness into their own journeys, both in the friendships they build and the careers they imagine. For Criminology students in particular, she urges them not to limit themselves to policing or traditional criminal justice roles.

Alongside academic knowledge, she recommends developing practical and technical skills that can open doors to risk assessment, intelligence analysis, strategic planning, governance, compliance and policymaking. She also points to emerging fields such as cybersecurity, AI governance, cyber policy and digital safety.

Her advice is to start exploring these possibilities while still at university: research the roles that interest you, identify the skills they require and begin building those skills before graduation. A degree can offer more paths than students initially realise; the challenge is to recognise them early enough to prepare.

A future that still includes Bangladesh

Despite building a life abroad, Shejuti has not stopped thinking about home.

“I think about going back to Bangladesh every other day,” she says.

Her experience in Europe and the UK Civil Service has shown her how effective regulation and oversight can bring meaningful change. Bangladesh has many of the necessary laws, she believes, but needs stronger regulatory capacity and independent oversight. She hopes to draw on what she has learnt to contribute to the country in the future.

For students pursuing fully funded scholarships, her first piece of advice is simple: “Write.”

List the universities, programmes and scholarships that interest you, research them carefully and refine your choices as you learn more. Books, projects, work experience and even films or documentaries that sparked your interest can help you identify the right programme.

She also warns against applying indiscriminately. Her own experience of submitting hundreds of applications taught her that working harder does not always mean working smarter.

She believes one of the biggest mistakes students make is disqualifying themselves before a selection committee can consider them. Scholarships are not reserved for perfect candidates; panels also look for potential, commitment, resilience and purpose.

Her advice is to research carefully, apply intentionally and preserve the energy to keep going.

“Your time to shine will come,” she says, “but you need