When Trifty Qurrota Aini first stepped foot in the UK in 2016, there weren’t a lot of guides to help her navigate her new life abroad. Finding her place in uncharted waters was a challenge on its own. Today, this former journalist is a thriving influencer and country manager at the University of the West of England, using her platform to empower other Indonesians to study abroad in the UK too. In this episode, we uncover her extraordinary journey from Indonesia to becoming the study abroad guru for aspiring students back home.
Maryam: Hey guys, welcome back to the Extra Credit Podcast. To all first-time listeners tuning in, this is a series where we discuss the beauty, perks, and essential how-tos of studying abroad with fellow international students, graduates, and professors worldwide.
I'm Maryam, your host. Today, we'll be focusing on one of history's most popular study destinations, the United Kingdom, home to nearly half of the world's top 10 universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Joining us is someone who's been there, done that, and is now making it her life mission to help aspiring international students achieve their own dreams of studying in this country.
Trifty Qurrota Aini began her study abroad journey as a master's student in mass communications management in the UK. This life-changing experience has then led her to many career opportunities like becoming a news producer and presenter for multiple TV stations, a guest speaker on the UK's British Muslim TV, an education influencer, and now the Indonesian country manager for the University of the West of England.
That's quite a full circle journey, huh? Trifty, welcome. It's a pleasure to have you here with us today. How are you?
Trifty: I'm good. Thanks for having me.
Maryam: That's so lovely hear. All right, let's dive right in with some of our burning questions. Okay, you've built such a huge fanbase, especially on Instagram with over 56,000 followers through creating such fun, insightful content about studying abroad, especially in the UK. Tell us, has the UK always been your dream study destination?
Trifty: Yeah, so from the very first stage of dreaming to study [in] the UK, our study route, I chose the UK as my, uh, country destination because it doesn't take a very long time to study there. It was only one year to take my master's degree in the UK, and I feel like the UK is a very safe place for international students to study. And I also feel like there's a multicultural environment in the UK, so everyone from any background is welcomed.
Maryam: So, I have to say, like, now we all know that for most people, studying abroad is about getting quality education, learning from the world's best teachers, and gaining access to world-class facilities. But we can't ignore, you know, as you said, that a huge draw for students to want to study abroad is also the thought of getting to explore new environments, meet new people from other countries, and yeah, to immerse ourselves in, you know, many different unfamiliar cultures. So, tell us, what was that experience like for you? Were you able to adjust to life in the UK easily?
Trifty: Yeah, so when I was living in the UK or studying in the UK, I met so many friends from different cultures, from different backgrounds. And that experience has given me insight [into] how to perceive life in many perspectives. And also from that experience, I gained so [much] knowledge engaging with international people. So that's kind of like [an] interesting experience for me.
Maryam: Did you face any challenges while settling in?
Trifty: So, the only challenge I felt was about the weather because I come from a tropical country. I come from Indonesia. So, I had to adjust myself to [the] cold weather. And the other big deal was about the food. So, I was used to, you know, like Asian foods. And, um, but, you know, like, however, the UK offers so many Halal shops and Asian shops. I wasn't really struggling to find Halal and Asian shops in the UK.
Maryam: I think that also speaks to how diverse the current UK population is and also the current student population is as well.
Trifty: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maryam: So, um, while you were at uni doing your master's in mass communications management, did you feel that the resources at UK universities differed from the ones at universities back home in Indonesia?
Trifty: Yeah, there is a huge difference between studying [in] the UK and in Indonesia. In the UK, I didn't have exams at all and I feel like the education structure at UK universities is very compact. And my marks were taken from essays, presentations, and dissertations. But of course, it depends on the course you've taken, right? But in my course, I didn't have any exams. And yeah, another thing is obviously, UK universities do not have [a] GPA system, but Indonesian universities offer a GPA system. That's something interesting, between universities in the UK and Indonesia.
Maryam: Could you tell us a bit more about you know the teaching styles and classroom environments in the UK?
Trifty: So, my classroom consists of around 25 students and half of them are international students and half others are UK students or home students. And we had, like, practical lessons. But in Indonesian universities, you will have more than 25. Like, it's kind of [a] small class, but I had also a big classroom. Yeah.
Maryam: Ah, so I'm guessing it's more personal.
Trifty: It depends on the course you take, actually. But in my course for [the] master's degree, it was around 25 or 30. But on other days, sometimes I had another lesson which included [a] big number of students — [that] consist of students from different courses, like, learning in one module together, something like that.
Maryam: Did you enjoy any of the classes?
Trifty: Yeah, yeah, I enjoyed it. And I feel like I learned, uh, cultural things as well in the classroom because people came from different countries. Like, even international students, um, we had, like, a big diversity there. I was [the] only Indonesian there. I had one Malaysian friend in the classroom, but the other international students came from Poland or Vietnam or any other countries. So, it wasn't only, like, studying mass communication, but I learned more about cultural things from my classmates.
Maryam: Could you elaborate on your course structure and walk us through what your master's programme was like as a Mass Communications Management student?
Trifty: Yeah, sure. So, because at the time I went to the UK, I also worked as a journalist at some TV stations in Indonesia. So, mass communications is also like sending messages to [the] public, right? That was related to my previous job. So, I learned something related to broadcasting in the UK context because the university also, uh, invited me and my classmates to BBC Television.
Maryam: Oh.
Trifty: Yeah, we had a chance to learn broadcasting at BBC TV station. So, that's more about how to make information [be] delivered to the public and something like that.
Maryam: How was that onset experience like? The BBC is a big deal, right?
Trifty: Yeah, BBC is very famous and well known all over the world. And that was great that we had a chance to visit the TV station. And I found [that] the equipment at the TV stations in the UK and in Indonesia is quite different. So, I was kind of like, getting new knowledge, how it works in [the] international context and in the UK. So, once I came back to Indonesia, I was trying to apply it at the TV station here.
Maryam: Did you face any challenges during your course?
Trifty: I think, I believe the only challenge I had was only understanding British English or [the] British accent. That was because in my entire life, I learned American English at schools in Indonesia. So, British accent or British English, it's not that common in Indonesia. I had to adjust myself for around one month to understand how it works. But it wasn't really a big deal for me because now I work for a British institution and it's not a challenge anymore for me.
Maryam: Of course, like, you know it takes a matter of getting used to the accents. Basically, at some point, it will come naturally to you, right?
Trifty: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Maryam: Yeah. So then in 2018, you graduated with your master's degree and then you went home to Indonesia, and you landed many different opportunities, one of which was a role as a news producer at SCTV, which is an Indonesian television station — to the listeners. While this wasn't your first time working in journalism or as a presenter, as you said before, you gained a lot of technical and practical experience when you visited the set of BBC. Do you think that your time abroad in the UK has benefited you or changed the way you approach your job?
Trifty: Yeah, so journalism or being a journalist was actually the reason why I went to the UK, why I took mass communication management. That was the...the reason actually. And when I came back home, I got a chance to work at other TV stations again. And, as I mentioned before, when I was studying in the UK, I got a chance to study broadcasting at BBC Television. And I found that there's something interesting there, the equipment, the software they used to broadcast news and stuff. So, I was learning more about broadcasting in [the] international context.
So, when I came back to Indonesia, I feel like all the experiences at BBC Television and in the classroom helped me to work better, to work in understanding broadcasts and newscasters even better. Yeah.
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