Karen-Lise Scheie Knudsen

Department Director
Management Support Unit
University of Agder (UiA)

I have known Arif since he arrived in Norway in June of 2022, when I served as his contact person. I have come to know Arif as a dear colleague. He is a gentle and hardworking person, who really cares for his surroundings and wants to make a difference.

Zhiyu Jiang

Professor
Department of Engineering Sciences
University of Agder (UiA)

I have known Arif through collaboration in research projects and student supervision at the University of Agder. Arif is a skilled researcher with many good characteristics. He is willing to learn new knowledge outside of his main field, computer science. He is willing to take critical feedback and go the extra mile! He also has a good personality which makes it pleasant to work with him.

Andreas Prinz

Professor
Department of Information and Communication Technology
University of Agder (UiA)

Arif masters the art of problem-solving and applies it in teaching, research, development, and private life. I have been Arif's academic supervisor since his arrival in Norway, and I am impressed by how he quickly and easily adapted to new areas of teaching and research. He has good rapport with students and helps them understand the material using examples and supportive guidance. His dedication to research is outstanding, and he actively seeks areas for collaboration with his colleagues. Arif is very practical and develops new applications and solutions whenever needed. I recommend him highly in the areas of teaching, research, and development.

Shashidhar Ram Joshi

Professor and Dean
Institute of Engineering
Tribhuvan University

I have known Arif Payenda for 7 and a half years. I taught and evaluated him in Programming and Data Structures and Artificial Intelligence courses when I was a Visiting Professor at his university (South Asian University, New Delhi, India) from July 2017 to June 2018. He secured very good scores in those courses. He is a very hardworking and intelligent student. I wholeheartedly recommend him for his further studies and wish him a happy and prosperous future.

Dr. Promodini Varma

Director
Admission and Evaluations
at South Asian University (SAU) at the time

I have known Arif for the past two years since he joined the South Asian University (SAU) as a postgraduate student in the Department of Computer Science. I have had many opportunities to interact with him on various issues, and I have always found him to be very polite and helpful, often going out of his way to ensure things work out smoothly. Within a few months of joining, he discovered that we were experiencing difficulties administering our Entrance Test in Afghanistan. He reached out to me and offered his help. He contacted his friends and colleagues back home to resolve the issues for us. During his vacations, on his own initiative, he also organized training sessions for students seeking admission. He helped us in every possible way, sometimes even taking risks on our behalf. This was not something he did once or twice but regularly. I could always count on him to successfully execute whatever tasks were entrusted to him. I must emphasize that I have rarely encountered someone as outgoing and friendly as him. I am confident that he will be an asset to any organization or company he joins.