Lawrence
Lawrence Jongi comes from Zimbabwe. Before coming to Sweden, he completed his bachelor studies in Production Engineering at the Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbawe. He loves marathon mountain running, nature, tree nursery management and developing sustainable business models.
Why did you choose this master’s programme at KTH?
I have a company called Jongi's Woods Pvt Ltd in Zimbabwe, which fights climate change, poverty and hunger by developing sustainable solutions to societal and industrial problems affecting Zimbabwe through climate-smart agriculture, indigenous tree planting, land restoration, product and production development, indigenous tree nursery management, community training and renewable energy project development. I am also the Head of the Division of Innovation and Technology in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development stationed at Mutare Polytechnic in Zimbabwe. These two responsibilities have demanded me to enhance my skills in terms of developing sustainable production systems. I chose KTH because it is the only institute in the world that joins production engineering and sustainability. My main objective for my career development was to enhance my competency gaps.
What are some of your favourite courses so far?
It is hard to pinpoint one particular course, because they have been equally crucial for my competence gap. What I love about the curriculum is that it deepens my analytical skills from an engineering generic domain to a sustainability domain.
How do studies at KTH differ from your previous studies?
My previous studies lacked a deeper understanding of the digital landscape. In comparison, my KTH studies have involved a lot of action research, software applications, a little coding, group work, and presentations, which are beneficial skills for delivering better outputs when I finish my studies. The study pace is different, and we finish topics much quicker. Master's studies at KTH usually are organized in shorter periods (about 2-3 months each), with two or three courses each.
How is student life in Stockholm?
Compared to my previous studies, the pace in KTH is fast since it divides one semester into two periods, so we will have a fairly intense course to focus on and evaluate our understanding after studying. On the other hand, we don’t have too much pressure to prepare for the exams.
How is student life in Stockholm?
KTH is an international university with impressive diversity that brings many different perspectives and innovations. Also, there are many hidden curriculum activities at KTH, for example, I have joined a club called Talent Incubator which has developed my digital and analytical skills, and there is also a department called KTH Innovation which funds (grant of 20000€) excellent research and innovation proof of concepts by both students and staff.
What would you like to say to students thinking of choosing KTH for master's studies?
Suppose you are looking for diversity, academic and research challenges, developing your talents and digital skills, social network connectivity, sustainability in engineering, and being marketable after graduation. In that case, KTH Royal Institute of Technology is your place.
What do you want to do after graduating?
When I finish my studies, I look forward to doing a PhD in Sustainable Production Development with alignment to a triad control system of Production Environmental Management, Standards of Production Operations and Machine Reliability, this is Industry 5.0.