An Aberdeenshire woman hopes her new qualification will help open the door to a job in her native Africa.
Marlies Nicolai, 22, moved from Zimbabwe to Aboyne in 2001, and hopes the degree she collected yesterday will lead to conservation work with wildlife on the continent.
She graduated with a BSC (honours) in conservation biology from Aberdeen University whilst her delighted parents Willem and Fiona looked on.
Former Aboyne Academy pupil, Miss Nicolai, said she was just thrilled to get through the ceremony with “no trips” on the stage at Elphinstone Hall.
She has now started applying for work to bring her closer to her ideal career.
She said: “I applied for a lot of research and physicians work – paid or unpaid – in Malawi, Libya and South Africa, all to do mainly with focusing on animal behaviour and associations with the environments themselves. In the future maybe I’ll do some environmental consultancy or research management.”
Ms Nicolai has her heart set on returning to Africa, but said she would look back fondly on her student life in Aberdeen.
She said: “I’m just going to miss the social life, having all your friends staying all the time, and just living in between childhood and adulthood.”
