LSME Annual Convocation Ceremony 2023

On the 12th of September 2023, the London School of Management Education (LSME) held its 2023 Convocation Ceremony at the Mayfair Venue in Romford, London to celebrate the conferment of Higher National Diplomas, Undergraduate Degrees and Masters’ Degrees awarded by the University of Chichester and Pearson.

The event was a great success. Among our notable distinguished guests were Lord Daniel Brennan KC, a member of the House of Lords in the UK Parliament and the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Washington-based think-tank Global Financial Integrity as our Chief Guest and H.E. Ivan Romero Martinez, the Ambassador of Honduras in the UK as the Guest of Honour. Other VIP guests were Cllr Jyotsna Islam, the Mayor of Redbridge, Senior Officials from the Partner University, University of Chichester and many other guests from academic,
political and private sectors within the UK.

In a welcome address, the Principal of the College, Dr Sarita Parhi, congratulated the graduating classes and members of staff of the institution for their outstanding efforts in supporting their learners during their academic journey. She also highlighted some of the progress made in the last academic year on student achievement and retention, our research ambitions, the annual international conference and our institution’s commitment to embrace the proposed modular approach to higher education via the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). Her remarks also focused on student satisfaction for the 2023 NSS, expansion of the academic portfolio, the success achieved via the access and participation projects. She urged the newly
qualified graduates to stay connected with the institution and to make use of the Employability and Enterprise Hub (EEH) facilities including the Graduate First Portals to enhance the development of their employability skills.

Professor Stephen McKinney from the University of Glasgow commended the graduands for being very efficient at balancing work, family and achieving a qualification. He congratulated them for their hard work, dedication and perseverance. He described the meaning of education as the ability to obtain knowledge, understanding and skills but most importantly wisdom, drawn from knowledge and experience can be applied to different situations and help us in making the right decisions. He also advised the graduands to live a fulfilling life with integrity and care for others and thanked all staff of LSME for their hard work and support provided to the students.

Relating to her own experience, Katie Akerman from the University of Chichester described how she felt conflicted between the pride of getting a degree and the sadness of leaving her institution and facing the challenges ahead. She described her memorable experience with LSME and congratulated the graduands on behalf of the University of Chichester for doing so well even under difficult circumstances. She indicated it is fine for them to make mistakes and recover from their experiences rather than thinking they need to be right all the time. She left them with a famous quote from Dr Seuss. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go”.

In her congratulatory remarks, the Mayor of Redbridge, Cllr Jyotsna Islam extended a warm welcome from Redbridge Borough. She indicated that education is a very powerful tool as it involves the transmission of knowledge, skills, and even transformational character traits and the confidence and empowerment to reach for the stars. She advised the graduands to make use of the skills of critical thinking, creativity and innovation in their future endeavours rather than seeing their qualification as just another piece of paper. She commended LSME for the tremendous support given to the Borough and pledged her support for future endeavours.

H.E. Ivan Romero Martinez, the Ambassador of Honduras extended a heartfelt congratulations to all the graduating students of LSME. In his address, he stressed the need for the graduands to remain connected with the rest of the world, and apply the skills of integration to support individuals and the communities in which they come from. He urged the graduates to continue to work hard and to think about the quality of whatever they are doing in the real world and how their actions will affect other people.

Lord Brennan KC, also addressed the graduands with a warm congratulation. The highlight of his remarks was on the need to foster meaningful friendships and relationships that will last for the foreseeable future. He considered graduation as an end but also the beginning of something new which will require collaboration and working together for a brighter future. He urged the graduands, to work hard, remain focused and build on new experiences and to make the most of the challenging decade of innovation and technological advancement. In his final advice, he said, “It is not the years of life that counts. It is the life you put into those years that matter.”

The successful students were conferred with their degrees and diplomas. Special Awards were presented to outstanding graduates in recognition of their accomplishments in academic excellence, extra-curricular engagement, mentoring and peer support, attendance, punctuality and time management throughout their study period. Student testimonies were heard highlighting their student experience, their gratitude to the institution and what they have achieved as a direct result of the education they received from LSME.

The overall Best Student of the Year Award was presented to Oluwayemisi Adedeji for her outstanding contributions to the institution.

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