KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian student at the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at the University of Oxford.
Adnan Zikri Jaafar, will be pursuing his master’s in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation, along with a master’s in financial economics at the renowned university.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Adnan is majoring in finance, statistics and international studies, and minoring in mathematics, economics and philosophy under the Huntsman Program in International Studies in Business, which is offered through the university’s School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School.
An ambassador of the university’s Giving What We Can programme, Adnan has also been active in charity work involving refugees namely in Philadelphia and in Irbid, Jordan.
In the summer, he conducted research on zakat and alternative approaches to improve its distribution in Malaysia.
Adnan also served as a Fox Research and Service Fellow as well as a Wharton Research Scholar.
Another student from the same university, Christopher D’Urso, was also awarded the prestigious scholarship.
The university’s president Amy Gutmann said the two newest scholars share a passion for community engagement, human rights and social justice.
“Their work embodies the finest attributes of the university’s scholars who are working to make a profound difference in the world.
“D’Urso has focused on consumer protection and advocacy as the founder of Penn CASE, which is providing education and support to local consumers in our community. He also has been actively engaged on the Task Force on a Safe and Responsible Campus Community.
“As for Adnan, his undergraduate research has focused on social-impact bonds. He also has done volunteer work with refugees and has been an ambassador for Penn’s Giving What We Can.
“Both of them are extraordinarily talented, engaged and committed individuals who are deeply deserving of this preeminent recognition.
“All of us at the university are enormously proud of them,” she said, as quoted in a news report published on the university’s website.
Rhodes Scholarships was established in 1903 to sponsor non-British students to study at the University of Oxford.