Ritwesh Chatterjee
Why did you choose to study for your degree at Sheffield?
Scoring well in exam papers can’t be the ultimate goal of uni life. The cultural history of Sheffield and the ambience is really very influential and makes us grow as a person, which I believe is the most important of all. Being a Russell Group university, the University of Sheffield not only provides the highest standards of education but also has its own warmth, and is very welcoming to international students. You never feel abandoned or isolated like Mark Watney from The Martian. It’s very important that a university recognises each student as an individual with his/her own identity and not just another student lost in the crowd. This is exactly why it’s been easy for me to call Sheffield my second home.
What aspects of the degree do you enjoy the most?
The most interesting aspect of the degree programme is how different disciplines are interconnected to give an all-round education. To elucidate this further, as AI students, we were required to choose between Philosophy and Psychology modules, which of course are very essential for anyone in the field. Another example would be a module which connects Biology to Computer Science. In the present day scenario, this cross-discipline knowledge is not only beneficial for one’s career but also extremely essential.
How do you think your degree will help your career prospects?
The programme, in its approach, makes sure that students receive the most up to date all-round education in their field. As fast changing as it is, computer science courses are required to adjust themselves to the ever-changing market.
The programme not only equips us with the most up-to-date tools but also teaches us how to stand on our own feet.
Ritwesh Chatterjee
Undergraduate student
To explain this further, each module is designed so that every student becomes independent in their train of thoughts and actions, so as to work well in a team to provide the final output.
What do you like best about studying at Sheffield?
The best part is the huge volume of topics that are covered with the least of the pressure. Also, the opportunity in extra-curricular activities (academic or non-academic) is immense. This ensures the all-round development of a student.
What are your future plans?
My future plans basically lies in research of Machine Learning. It’s one of the aspects which appeals to me the most and with the current faculty in our department, I am pretty sure it's gonna be the most interesting part of my career. I plan to work on the implementation of human emotions with machine learning algorithms.