“I wanted to build a life by studying”

Umair Ansari came to Germany as a refugee child. His dream: he wanted to study and have a successful career. He chose the new course of study “Information Law” at Hochschule Darmstadt, a course that at that time – in the early 2000s – was offered by only few universities in Germany. Ansari graduated with a Diploma, followed by a Master’s degree. Today, this h_da alumnus is IT Team Lead at automotive supplier SAF-Holland located near Aschaffenburg.

Umair Ansari had the right instinct. The Internet, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics were hardly developed some 20 years ago or not at all, and certainly not as prevalent as they are today. “Still, information technology seemed to me to be very future-oriented,” he correctly realized. In his senior years in school, Umair Ansari attended IT classes, but they turned out to be hardly more than data processing 101. Still, his interest had been kindled, and for him, one thing was clear: “I wanted to do and study something new.” Even though there were teachers at his school, the Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck-Schule in Darmstadt, who advised the young man to do a vocational training and become a craftsman because they didn’t think him capable of studying successfully. But instead of holding him back, this only served as an additional incentive for Umair Ansari.

Strong communication skills

In 1991, Umair Ansari – then only two years old – came to Germany together with his parents and siblings, and the family applied for political asylum here. They were Ahmadis, a Muslim congregation whose members are persecuted in Pakistan. Until being granted political asylum, the seven family members lived in a refugee shelter in Griesheim for ten years. In an apartment with just two and a half rooms and no privacy at all. “That was difficult,” the alumnus recalls. Upon being granted his residence permit, and with his first self-earned money, Umair finally moved into his first own small apartment. 
Money had always been tight for the family. So already as an adolescent, Umair wanted to be successful. “I wanted to build a life by studying.” His parents, too, backed him in this plan. “If you want to be recognized in society, you have to go to university,” his father stated. German grammar and spelling had not been Umair Ansari’s strong points in school, but “thanks to my communication skills, I could always improve my grades,” he laughs. “I’m good at arguing.” He didn’t lack studiousness nor willpower, and he had the right instinct. 
Up to that time, topics in IT law had only been few and far between when it came to applying the new technology. So Umair Ansari enrolled in Information Law at Hochschule Darmstadt at Campus Darmstadt and studied areas of law like “Law and Data Protection and Privacy on the Internet”, “Licenses and Copyrights”, as well as “Brand Management”; but also financial topics like e-commerce; and how to counter the risk of cyberattacks. All of them areas that have become relevant since the big leap in Internet technology. The alumnus wrote his Diploma thesis on the deployment of messenger services as a communication tool within companies. Focusing in particular on specifics like data protection and privacy. “Things like WhatsApp were brand new at that time.” He then completed a Master’s program in International Licensing Law, specializing on licensing and software law and IT contracts.

Some negative experiences included

Before and even during his studies, Umair Ansari held a job. He did his alternative service in Darmstadt in outpatient geriatric care. He then first continued this work in order to finance his studies. The young man helped elderly people in their households, went with them for walks, went shopping for them, and cooked their meals. “I’ve come to know many good people, but I also went through a few negative experiences, for some patients didn’t want me to help them; they said they preferred a German helper,” the alumnus – who has German citizenship – remembers. During his Master’s studies, the Heidelberg public utility company gave him a job as a dual student in Software Asset Management and even offered him subsequent full-time employment. “But I wanted to finish my Master’s degree first.” After his graduation, the alumnus built up the IT legal department in Heidelberg where he stayed for three and a half years before joining a business consulting firm in Bad Homburg working for the financial and insurance sector. 

At “Microfin”, he dealt with questions of how and in which form to outsource IT tasks to service providers. This position enabled him to build a network comprising many large banks, but it also came with a 50-hour work week. “I was traveling a lot,” says Umair Ansari. That was a situation he didn’t want to continue following his marriage and the birth of his son. “It didn’t fit my family life.” That’s why four years ago, he changed jobs and joined SAF-Holland, a renowned supplier for the truck and trailer industry located near Aschaffenburg. In their IT department, they had just created a new position for contract management and licensing law. 

Today, he is Team Lead for a team of three people responsible for compliance and IT sourcing, i.e. for the professional purchasing of IT systems and IT services from external providers. Umair Ansari can do a lot of his tasks working remotely from home while being with his family. Incidentally, his wife studied Business Administration – also at Hochschule Darmstadt. 
 

Important mentors at h_da

Umair Ansari is still attached to h_da. “At the time, some of the professors were really important mentors for me,” he emphasizes. These include law professor Felix Hermonies and professor Harald Hahn, “who taught me a whole lot about media law and data protection and privacy.” And there’s another aspect in his studies he likes to recall. h_da is one of the few universities that offer an accompanying program in interdisciplinary studies – called “Social and Cultural Sciences (SuK)” – to all students. “SuK was very important for me,” says Ansari. There, he enrolled in classes in Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese; and he became closely acquainted with areas in psychology, philosophy, and communication. “The Hochschule has enabled me to widen my horizon,” he commends. His enthusiasm seems to have been catching: Umair Ansari’s younger brother also studied Information Law at h_da.