Diploma Graduation Celebration

It's been a whirlwind year for the 2015-2016 class of ICTP Diploma students since they left home last fall for ICTP. On August 26th, ICTP honored their effort and achievement with a graduation ceremony as they prepare for their next steps.

The ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme is designed for students from developing countries who are interested in further study in physics and mathematics. The program strives to help students reach international standards as students in physics and mathematics, filling in any gaps in their past education to prepare them to compete favorably for graduate studies at any institution in the world.

Founded in 1991, the program consists of an intense year-long course of study. The graduating students have completed two semesters of classes as well as independent work of their own. The students choose one of four areas of instruction when they apply: high energy physics, condensed matter physics, mathematics, and Earth system physics. After graduating from the Diploma program, students often go on to enroll in PhD programs in Europe or North America, with many planning on returning to their home countries when they finish their studies. Other students find jobs or enroll in PhD programs in their home countries.

Out of the 35 graduates, four students from the 2016 Diploma Programme graduating class were singled out for outstanding work:

• Ali Rida Khalife (Lebanon) studied high energy physics and has been accepted into the Joint ICTP-SISSA PhD Programme.
• Yusuf Shaidu (Nigeria) studied condensed matter physics and will start the Joint ICTP-SISSA PhD Programme this fall.
• Yairon Cid Ruiz (Cuba) studied mathematics and has been accepted into the PhD program at the Universitat de Barcelona.
• Janak Raj Joshi (Nepal) studied Earth system physics and is off to begin a PhD program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the USA. 

“All the courses were perfect, I will keep them all in mind in my future PhD career,” says Yairon Cid Ruiz, winner of the top student prize for mathematics. “In comparison to my previous academic experiences, here at ICTP you can really feel the warmth of the professors and how teaching is important for them.”

Similarly, the top student in condensed matter physics, Yusuf Shaidu, had high praise for ICTP and for the teaching quality:  “It is very difficult for me to single out a single preferred aspect in this year. Actually, I realized that the diploma gave me the necessary background to be better prepared for my future career,” says Yusuf.

For Ali Rida Khalife —who won the top student prize in high energy— the network of scientists he met at ICTP represents a huge added value to the Diploma course. “There is a friendly environment here, you don’t see any hierarchy or wall between student and professor, which helps speed up your learning process,” says Ali, adding, “After I get my PhD, this attitude is something I would like to bring back to my home in Lebanon, as well as enhancing the link between ICTP, my country, and my previous faculty.”

See photos of the ceremony on ICTP's Flickr account.

--Kelsey Calhoun