Statement of Purpose

Introduction

I am Basavaraj Sanshi, residing with my family in the state of Karnataka, India, a

hardworking and passionate student who is going to pursue a Master of Information
Technology in RMIT, Melbourne for the February 2023 intake.

I completed high school at S.R.K.V.S, Mysore, Karnataka with 89 % in the year 2014 and then
my Pre-University education (class-12, Karnataka board) with 82% from KCS College,
Bagalkot, Karnataka in the year 2016. I have always been good at science and maths and I
was curious to learn about the latest trends in technology. So, considering my innate
passion and massive opportunities in the technology sector, I chose to pursue Engineering. I
completed my Electronics and Communication Engineering at KLE Technological University
with a GPA of 7.69 in 2020.

Apart from Academics, I have a keen interest in various other fields like Sports. In high
school, I was part of our basketball school team which was crowned Mysore district winners
for three consecutive years. I also represented the Mysore division in an Inter-division
basketball competition. Even during my Engineering, I did not lose pace and was part of the
KLE University basketball team which played various tournaments across the country
including Inter-University matches held at Chennai. I have also been very enthusiastic about
taking part in leadership activities. I was the Joint-Secretary in my High-School, taking
responsibility for the discipline of about 300 students. At my University, I was the Class-
representative for 2 years, helping the staff communicate effectively with the students
regarding their schedules and projects. Apart from that, I am a voracious reader, passionate
about both fiction and non-fiction novels. My favourite non-fiction book is “Atomic Habits”
which explains the science behind breaking and forming habits and Dan brown’s “Angles
and Demons” is my most-liked fiction novel.

During my 7th Semester of engineering, I was offered the role of Associate Software
Engineer at Accenture, which was to begin immediately after my 8th semester.
Unfortunately, due to covid, my joining was delayed due to restrictions imposed by the
government and also the fall in projects received by Accenture. However, Accenture was in
touch with us and started mandatory training for us during the delay period. The training
included modules on Logic Development, OOP UML, UNIX, Software Engineering concepts,
web technology, java, XML, and RDBMS. In addition to the programming concepts I had
learnt during my engineering, these pieces of training increased my appetite towards
Information Technology concepts, hence the choice to take up a Master's in Information
Technology. I cleared the test conducted by Accenture on the above modules and was
allotted the technology of SAP ABAP. After a month’s training on SAP ABAP, I was a part of
the development project which included developing enhancements for our client “Boeing”
in SAP ABAP on HANA. Unfortunately, I had to quit my job at Accenture, four months after
my joining, due to the dire situation faced by our family business due to covid restrictions. I
have been working as Business Development Manager at our family business which is a
ready-made garment shop. It has 3 sections-kids, men and women, managed by 15
employees of our business. My job included handling the accounts, helping in the business
operations and making sure of the timely payment of agents. Simultaneously, I have been in
touch with Information Technology concepts, taking various courses on youtube and
udemy. Now that our business is in a good situation, I am keen to get back to my career in
IT.

We are six in number in our family. My father runs the ready-made garment business and
my mother is a professor at G.A.M.C Ayurvedic medical college. My grandfather is a retired
government servant who looks after the farming of sugarcane on our farm-land, with the
help of my father and my grandmother is a homemaker and takes care of all household
work. Our main source of income is from the business and the farming of sugarcane. My
parents will be sponsoring my higher studies in Australia, in addition to my education loan.

Why Australia?
Australia is one of the best places in the world for higher studies apart from the UK, USA and
Europe and is known for its world-class education. It has seven universities which are ranked
in the top 100 universities by Times Higher Education. My preference was always to go to an
English-speaking country as I am comfortable with English, having pursued English medium
education in India, hence my choices were restricted to USA, UK, and Australia. The USA also
has world-class universities but the fees of the universities are very expensive and might
become a burden for my parents to afford. UK’s 1-year master's degree is not accepted by
Indian universities. The costs of studying in Australia are considerably lower than in the UK
and the USA, and students can work part-time and access scholarships and grants. I always
wanted to have international experience and to gain an international degree that is
recognized globally. Like India, Australia has a safe, peaceful, multicultural, friendly and
harmonious society. The climate and geographical conditions of Australia are as same as
India, where students from India may feel they are in a home country.

Australia is the most successful multicultural society, uniting a multitude of cultures,

experiences, beliefs and traditions. It is also one of the friendliest countries, with one of the
lowest crime rates in the world which makes it a safe place for international students to
study. According to the global liveability index 2022, Melbourne is the 10th most liveable
city in the world. Graduates from Australian schools are highly sought after due to the
impressive international reputation of the Australian education system. This system is
carefully regulated by the government to maintain the high standards of education
associated with the country.

Why RMIT?
I had applied to various universities across the country and had gotten offers from almost all
of them after the assessment of my profile. Some of the offers were from Latrobe, Deakin,
Monash, the University of Western Australia and RMIT. My preferred city to study in
Australia is Melbourne and the top-ranked universities among the offers I received were
Monash and RMIT. I had not gotten any scholarship from Monash university which made it
very expensive for me, however, I had gotten 20 to 25 per cent scholarships from Latrobe,
Deakin and RMIT which would ease my burden of paying fees. RMIT is ranked under the top
200 universities in the world according to QS World University Rankings(2022) and is also
ranked 74th globally in QS Graduate Employability Rankings(2022). It is also known globally
for its excellent higher education and industry-oriented curriculum which makes it better
prepared for students to enter the job market. A few of my seniors from undergraduate
university are studying various courses at RMIT such as data science, IT and business and
they all gave me excellent reviews about the culture and teaching at RMIT. Hence, the
above-mentioned reasons made me choose RMIT without any hesitation.

Why Information Technology?

My curriculum in under-graduation included subjects like SQL, Java, Python, Data structures
and Algorithms, Machine-Learning, Operating-Systems, IOT etc and my training and work
experience in Accenture made me interested and familiar with IT concepts. The curriculum
of the Master of IT at RMIT is such that, all the subjects are taught from scratch. This
structure provides sufficient time for students to sort out their interests and specializations.
India has a booming IT industry which has massive growth potential and a large number of
job opportunities with good pay. IT industry contributes nearly 7.5 per cent of the GDP, so
there has never been a better time to work in the IT industry in India.

The Master of Information Technology at RMIT is a 2-year course, consisting of 192 credits
which include four foundational subjects, up to four advanced technology subjects, four
subjects from the student’s area of specialization, one elective subject (or an additional
specialisation subjects) and a project of research outcome. The specializations include big
data analytics, cloud programming, Artificial Intelligence, Mobile and IoT computing,
Security and Blockchain Technology, Software Systems, Web systems and search
technology. The structure and curriculum are prepared according to the needs of the
industry so that students are well-prepared to enter the job market.

Why not India?

I have completed nearly 20 years of education in India so it is time for me to try something
different, and experience different cultures and teaching methods. Australia has
international students coming from across the world which allows me to meet and interact
with different people and learn from them. This exposure to meet the brightest minds
across the world contributes to the development of my personality and increases my
competitiveness. Also, the options for a variety of courses in Australia are way more than in
my home country. The structure and flexibility of the courses in Australia are a massive
advantage for international students which helps them learn better. The Top Indian
Universities like IIT-Mumbai, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kharagpur offer Mtech in computer science in
India, whose curriculum is a bit different and designed only for computer science
undergraduates. The flexibility to allow other undergraduates to pursue masters in
computer science or IT is not familiar in India. The top Indian universities do not have the
global reputation of top Australian universities. Hence, the above-mentioned points helped
me choose Australia over India for my master's.

My Future Plans
After completing my master's, I would come to India to work as a software engineer in the
IT industry which has massive job opportunities with lucrative salaries. The Indian IT and
business service market is expected to grow at 8.3% between 2021 to 2026, reaching a
$20.5 billion valuation by the end of 2026. I am fascinated by cloud computing and its
enormous adaptation by companies and enterprises in India. By 2026, widespread cloud
utilization can provide employment opportunities to 14 million people in India. Companies
like IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Swiggy and Zomato hire post-graduate students and
pay around 20LPA to 35LPA (A$36,000 to A$62,000). I would love to work for one of these
companies after my graduation.

India is also developing as a startup hub in the technology sector which presents a great
opportunity to be a startup founder, government support for the startup culture is a huge
bonus. My state Karnataka’s capital Bangalore is called the startup capital of India. After
gaining enough experience in India, I want to find a startup which solves problems and
provides technological solutions to make people’s lives easier. There is huge potential for
startups, especially in the domains like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, IoT, Blockchain
and virtual reality.

The Master of Information Technology from RMIT would help me get familiar with the
leading technology and prepare me for the job market in India. The project and internship
opportunities would help me gain industry experience that could be a plus point in my CV.
The specializations can be used to gain deep knowledge in a particular field, apart from
learning the basics of everything.

Our family is involved in business and agriculture. We grow around 2500 tonnes of
sugarcane every year on 25 hectares of farmland. I want to use my expertise in technology
to expand our business and increase efficiency in agriculture. For example, web
development or app development could help us reach more customers and increase our
sales. IoT can be used in agriculture to automatically turn on and off the water pump after
the soil has absorbed sufficient water. Drones can also be used to spray pesticides.

Source of funds
My father and mother are my sponsors for my higher education in Australia. They both have
a combined annual income of around 16LPA (A$28000), apart from agricultural income. I
have also taken an education loan of 25 lakhs (A$45000) from the Bank of Baroda for my
higher studies at RMIT. Apart from my education, my parents will be sponsoring my living
expenses.

Immigration History
I have not travelled anywhere outside of India.