DISTANCE learning students of the University of Leicester (UL) in the United Kingdom, received certificates, diplomas and Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degrees at the inaugural graduation dinner for the institution in Kingston on Tuesday.

Nine students earned MBAs, four received Diplomas in Management, while two accepted certificates in management at the function at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

Zonite Channer-Williams (right) receives her MBA certificate from Dr Peter Davis, lecturer in management at the University of Leicester at the graduation for Jamaican students at the Knutsford Court Hotel. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

Dr Peter Davis from ULs School of Management, and a United Nations expert in the development of policy on cooperatives, said the institution is a pioneer and leader in distance learning with alumni approaching 250,000 in approximately 90 countries worldwide. He said its school of management is the 15th biggest in Europe.

Dr Davis disclosed that UL has more than 20,000 students with more than half pursuing graduate degrees or post-doctoral research. It's for that reason that Leicester is in the top five British universities in terms of receipts from private sector research and development activities, he said.

Dr Davis said UL also excels in science, with genetic fingerprinting which has facilitated the arrest of many criminals being discovered there.

John Evans, president of Education for Advancement, a company representing UL in Jamaica, in underscoring the quality of the institution, said UL was chosen as the University of the Year by The Times newspaper's higher education section.

Guest speaker at the function, director of development and Institute of Jamaica, Clover Johnston, told the graduates that their true character would be revealed by their daily actions.

"(Some graduates) come to the workplace with a masters degree, and you cannot write standard English. This is one which particularly stands out in my mind because its a daily experience. It is your responsibility to equip yourselves above minimum standards. Your practice must be equivalent to your certification, not below," she said.

Dorrett Thaxter, of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, with brand new MBA in hand, said she chose to study at the University of Leicester largely because of the prompt responses she received to her e-mailed queries and the quality service she got from the local office.

Thaxter noted that at work, she was able to immediately apply what she was learning.

"I did all my assignments using my job situation," she said.

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