I was advised to do the pre sessional English course at Oxford Brookes University
So I completed this pre sessional course. This helped me improve the academic skills that I needed in my upcoming masters degree. When you decide to start your higher education journey, you also need to start specifying your career and your field. When I looked at the courses that the School of Law at Oxford Brookes provides, it was LLM in International Commercial Law, LLM in Legal Studies, LLM in Human Rights Law, and LLM in International Law. I also found that the School of Law and Oxford Brookes was ranked among the top 250 schools of law globally, which is more than amazing for my future career. When I looked at this degree, which is LLM in International Law, it was fully satisfying for me, I decided that this is my degree that I want to do. Additionally, this is the university that I am aiming for to study LLM International Law.
If you have this interest and motivation
When you are satisfied with your decision that you’ve made, and you know that your upcoming career will be built on this decision, you will be fully satisfied as I was.. During my LLM, I found that the first semester was challenging for me. In my undergrad degree back home, I didn’t feel that I had sufficient space to build my own thoughts, my own arguments, and improve my critical analysis and reflection skills. I considered it to be a knowledge gap in my higher education journey. Therefore, I concentrated on improving this and put many hours into my work in the first semester, which put me in a great position to tackle the second semester workload. I will say you need to address areas where you are less confident in your studies, specifically in the first semester as you will be in a better position going forward in your studies.
The tutors will help you
The tutors said to me ‘just send me an email and we will agree on a time and day we can do the appointment.’In the first semester, I did at least three appointments for each module, a face to face or online appointment. I remember that one of the modules was International Human Rights Systems. The module leader was Dr Michael John Hopkins. For instance, once I have the brainstorming or the outline of an assignment, I would like to discuss it with my tutor. I want to see what he/she thinks about that? I need advice because I don't want to finish the assignment without this fruitful input. All of the tutors were helpful, the discussions were productive for me, they impacted my assignments. As an international student studying in the United Kingdom, tutors will let you feel that they are your family, but just show us your attention and commitment to your studies. Show us you’re hard working and that's it!
I first started working with one of the Jordanian NGOs
When I finished my LLM in International Law, I returned to Jordan. I started working there for a period of eight months. My position was legal researcher and assistant project coordinator. The NGO was called Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies.This NGO is considered as one of the leading NGOs in my home country. By applying the knowledge that I have from my legal background, in particular my LLM in International Law, I was able to adapt with my role in the NGO.
The way to the United Nations
I was always seeking the opportunity and aiming for moving to the international platform. I wanted to go to the international platform by applying to the United Nations. During my master's, I was always focusing on my research on the topics surrounding the United Nations. I applied there for a position which is Resettlement Associate/ Case Worker. I was required to attend a written exam as a first step for employment purposes. Subsequently, after successfully passing the written exam, I was invited to attend an interview by three of the UN staff. Currently, I’m working in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
On the course I was always applying the knowledge that I have to my region, for example, my LLM dissertation entitled: ‘An Examination of the United Nations Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-Finding Activities: Lessons to be Learned from Situations in the Ongoing Conflict in Syria and Gaza’s Conflict 2008-9’. Moreover, applying the related modules that I had to my current job, for instance, the International Refugees and Migrants module, I utilised this module even in my written exam and in my interview, in order to convince the interviewers that I have the capacity and the qualification for this position.
Also, the module of International Human rights international systems. I learnt the structure of the United Nations, and what are the responsibilities of each organ and body within the UN. I am using this point daily in my legal career. What are the enforcement powers that each organ and body has? So some of them are prejudicial, some of them are semi judicial, and some of them are fully judicial. I remember the words of Dr Michael that ‘some of the UN organs and bodies can be determined as supervisory mechanisms’. It's not a mechanism that states have to implement the recommendations of it.
I am working on resettlement cases as a caseworker for all refugees in Jordan, including but not limited to, Syrians and Iraqi refugees. I was lucky that my decision was fully researched. I knew at that time, since the beginning of my master’s in International Law that I wanted to work in international organisations, I wanted to be involved in diplomacy, I wanted to improve my knowledge about the United Nations and reflect it to the issues in my region. I may come back to Oxford Brookes as I hold an unconditional offer to do my PhD at Oxford Brookes.