International Women’s Day is all about celebrating women’s achievements and here at Kaplan there’s plenty to celebrate! Our partner universities have produced some truly inspirational female graduates. Meet two amazing women who are helping to create a better and more balanced world!
Balance for better
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter, and no one embodies this more than Nina Monckton.
Nina is a graduate of no fewer than 3 of our university partners: Brighton, Westminster and Liverpool. She’s helping to tackle the gender imbalance in the IT sector, and recently won an international award for Transformational Leader of the Year at the Women in IT Awards.
Women make up just 9% of IT leaders globally, and Women in IT aims to address this issue by highlighting the achievements of women in the sector. As Chief Insight Officer for the NHS Business Services Authority, Nina was commended for her leading role in the public body’s IT strategy.
She’s a fantastic role model for other female graduates hoping to pursue a career in the tech industry.
A world-changing graduate
Our second inspirational graduate is Amal Azzudin, winner of the University of Glasgow’s World Changing Alumni Award for 2018. Amal is a human rights campaigner who sought asylum in the UK after fleeing a Somali war zone in 2000. She and her mother were eventually placed in Glasgow, and that’s where Amal’s passion for social justice began.
When Amal’s friend Agnesa and her family, refugees from Kosovo, were raided at dawn and put into a detention centre by UK authorities, Amal and 6 of her other school friends began campaigning for their release. Their protests eventually forced changes to the law on refugees in the UK, and Agnesa and her family were freed!
Amal was the first member of her family to go to university, winning a place at the University of Glasgow, one of the top 80 universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2025)! She studied a BA in Community Development, followed by a master’s degree in Human Rights and International Politics.
Since graduating from university in 2014, she has worked for the Mental Health Foundation in Scotland, managing their refugees programme, and is an ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council. In 2016 she was also named as one of the Saltire Society’s Outstanding Women of Scotland, alongside the author JK Rowling!
Amal says:
“As long as there is passion and courage anything is possible.”
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We couldn’t agree more! Her story shows that no matter your gender, age, or beginnings in life, with enough determination, you too can achieve incredible things.
On International Women’s Day, we’re proud to celebrate all the incredible women who come through our partner universities and colleges each year. If you’ve been inspired by these success stories, click on the links below to see how Kaplan can help you start your path to a top UK university!
