Reaching for the skies – building a future in aerospace engineering

For Kopisan, a first-year aerospace engineering student, the journey to university has been shaped by a love for science, the support of his family, and a drive to pursue a career in engineering.

Thanks to the Alumni Scholarship, he is now making new connections and taking his first steps toward shaping the future of aerospace engineering.

What brought you to the university?

“I have lived in South London, Croydon specifically, for the entirety of my life. I have always lived with my dad, mum, and older brother, until 2022 when my brother moved out to go to university. For most of my life my mum has been a housewife, taking care of my brother and myself, until about three years ago, when my brother and I were old and responsible enough to take care of ourselves. She got a job at a local Spar shop and is still currently working there. My dad was a shop owner for a couple of years, however a few years after I was born, he switched occupations and became a private hire mini cab driver.

“I decided to specifically go for aerospace engineering as I’ve always been interested in space and astronomy, and therefore aerospace engineering seemed like the type of engineering that makes the most sense for me. Therefore, for my A-levels I took maths, physics and design technology. Design technology has helped me a lot at university as it gave me a lot of fundamental skills that I’ve been using for engineering here. Some of these include basic CAD skills, sketching skills, coursework skills and more. I feel like my school was perfect for me, from the staff to the facilities to the amazing friends I’ve made along my entire seven-year journey.”
 

Why Nottingham?

“I decided to choose Nottingham as the campus looked nice and I had heard that there were a lot of amazing opportunities and facilities with the Uni of Nottingham, one of them even being the fact that I could possibly get a scholarship.”

Favourite module and campus life

“I have found university to be great so far. I struggled a little in the first few weeks given that I was out of my studies for a while. I was a bit scared as I had heard engineering degrees can be quite difficult, but now I am fully settled in and fine with how things are going. I have to say my room is very nice. All my flatmates are friendly, and they are all clean and responsible people. I have joined Tamilsoc and have attended a wide variety of events run by different societies.”

How the scholarship has helped

“When I found out that I had received the scholarship I was extremely happy. Before that, I had been worried about how I would manage my budget at university, as my parents weren’t in a position to provide regular financial support. I knew I would have to be completely independent. However, the scholarship gave me peace of mind, allowing me to focus on preparing for university without the added financial stress.”