Najibullah Zaki: From Student to Lecturer

Najibullah Zaki is a graduate of 2016 of the MA in Economic Governance & Development Programme. Najibullah has chosen the academic career, and currently he is teaching at the Kabul University, one of the most prestigious universities in Afghanistan.

1. Najibullah, you had been already teaching before you went to the OSCE Academy. Did your studies here change anything in your career?

I have worked as Academic Assistant (Assistant Professor) at the Public Policy and Administration faculty of the Kabul University, since the beginning of 2012. For sure, my studies at the OSCE Academy brought positive changes to my career. It improved my capacity and my capabilities in different areas, particularly in writing and reading, in research, teaching methodology, in developing teaching materials and using new teaching technologies, presentations and so on. Before the OSCE Academy, I was just an assisting professor in courses of economics and statistics. But after my graduation from the OSCE Academy, in addition to assisting I started lecturing for bachelor students such courses as Statistics, Project Management, Environmental Policies and Natural Resources Management. Thus, I am very happy and thankful to the OSCE Academy administration and its staff, for all their positive efforts to make our studies a success.

2. Why did you choose to work in the academic field?

I became interested in working in academia already 10 years ago. When I entered the university for my bachelor studies, I decided to work in this valuable area in the future. Now I am very happy that I work at the university, because it allows me to have an impact on the improvement of the quality of education. And that makes me very proud since I consider education most relevant for the development in Afghanistan.

3. Where do you see yourself in five years? 

In five years, I think I will improve even more in my life, especially in academia. If to compare to past years, now I have more experience and knowledge in teaching than I did before. Until today, I managed to teach courses on economics, natural resources management, environmental policies, statistics and project management for bachelor students. In addition, I attended several trainings and conferences on governance and public policy issues in Turkey, India and Afghanistan. I also pursued my Master’s Degree. If it continues this way, I see many more positive changes ahead in my life. And of course, at some point, I plan to do a PhD in Good Governance, or in Public Policy.

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