Motivation letter to do Phd in Education at ETH Zurich after Engineering and MBA

Dear EssayForum Family,
I recently joined this forum and my experiences so far has been a lot helpful - the responses and drafts of fellow academicians have helped me draft my motivation letter. Kindly share your feedbacks:

Motivation letter

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing this motivational letter to express my interest for the PhD position Reform Implementation in International Education Systems at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. I learnt about this role from Dr Ursula's LinkedIn post that my friend had shared.

My passion for teaching led me to be an Assistant Lecturer after engineering. Because of my curiosity to understand the principles behind human resource, management, economics and how business works in general I pursued MBA from Sri Sri University. Serving in the education industry for 3 years, I have encountered corporates using case study to scout best minds from the B-Schools in order to solve their business challenges and have observed how a yearlong certification program is helping professionals - recent graduates to Vice-Presidents - upskill and make career shifts. Now, I am looking forward to research on education system and its impact on labor market which matches exactly with the research area of this PhD position. Based on my analytical skills, communication ability, academic and professional experience, I think I would be a great fit for this position.

Recently, there have been multiple educational reforms globally: Responsible Development Strategy in Poland 2017, "Learning throughout Life" skills reform in Norway 2020, National Education Policy in India 2020, LOMLOE (Organic Law Amending the Organic Law of Education) in Spain 2021. In recent years, ASEAN countries have also intensified their participation in OECD committees and have increased contribution to statistical data collection1. Though OECD and EURYDICE have been working on education systems and bringing reforms across several countries, only a handful of research are done on VETs. This is a high time to study the education systems, policy reforms and their impact on the labor market. The Chair of Education Systems at ETH provides an excellent opportunity to research on institutional frameworks and education systems - including design, implementation, evaluation and development of education systems. CEMET's focus on VET will be beneficial to improve labor market and augment literature for further research in this field. This PhD role will allow me to work on researching, designing and implementing education systems and policy reforms.

Being at ETH - world's leading research-based University amongst 30,000 independent thinkers will help me flourish and excel in the research. The company and guidance that I will get from great minds in the field of economy, sociology and education is unparalleled. Dr. Ursula's articles on VET and the impact of dual education on the labor market are insightful. The monthly publication of Apprenticeship plus provides real-time insight on the impact of COVID on VET professionals in Switzerland. Contributions from her team in establishing a dual education system in Serbia and promoting it in several states of the US is commendable. She has huge contribution in promoting VET in Nepal - designing training programs, implementing the ENSSURE project, advising Government of Nepal to strengthen VET policies, designing a Master's program on TVET, and being the keynote speaker in the first international research conference on TVET in Nepal. I would be privileged to be researching under her guidance.

During my MBA study, I got a widened perspective studying subjects like Strategy, Research Methodology, Human Resource Management, Finance, Economics, Operations, Organizational Behavior, Big Data Analytics, Quantitative Methods for Management, Entrepreneurship, Business Communication and others. I had completed research and analytics projects for subjects like Research Methodology, Quantitative Methods for Management, Multivariate Data Analytics, and Business Analytics. My analytical mindset, research and communication skills helped me win multiple national conclaves, case study competitions and Business events on Finance, Agriculture, Marketing. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Bhagirathi Nayak, I completed my capstone project on Digital Transformation where I discussed the impact of digitalization on industries, its implementation challenges, and reasons for its success or failure. During engineering, my year-long research paper "Impact of Yoga on Emotional Intelligence of Engineering students" was published on KEC Journal of Science and Technology in 2016. I analyzed charts and prepared reports during my internship at Trianz. At Broadvision, I researched extensively across 12 industries to draft case studies for the competition. I analyzed several parameters from earlier registration trends and was able to achieve highest number of registrations. All these helped me improve my analytical, research and communication skills. I further enhanced my research and presentation skills from the Virtual internships at BCG. At Great Learning, I did analysis of mentor engagement hours and was able to reduce costs by 12%.

I am strongly motivated to work in the area of reforming education system and policy so that it can create direct and meaningful impact on the employability of youth students that in turn strengthens the economy of the community/nation as a whole. After this PhD program, I plan to either pursue a post-doctoral in education or serve as a Consultant in organizations working for education and/or policymaking. I belong to an Indigenous Newar community in Nepal famous for their food, culture and hospitality. I am the first one in my family to get a University degree. I believe that I can use my abilities in reforming the education system around the globe to bring positive impacts on the livelihoods of people.

I would like to thank you for consideration of my application. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Durgesh Pradhan Kasaju

[1] oecd.org/southeast-asia/cooperation/#d.en.435071

This is the strongest and most solid motivating factor for your application. Make this a part of the opening statement. This is the hook missing from your first few paragraphs. Do not over complicate your presentation. You are drowning your motivation under the weight of your background. Find a way to use only relevant experiences based on your motivational concerns.

I do not see a motivational aspect in relation to the position you are applying for. Who will you be working with and why does this excite you? You wrote a summary ofthe professor's background without relating it to your motivation, making ita useless mention. How does your experience in the related field apply? Don't write your academic biography. Use your relevant research experience as it relates to the work of the professor. Talk about motivations that would excite the reader into considering you as an applicant. That sense of excited and relevant motivation is lacking in your presentation.