Villa College has stated their graduation ceremony has begun at their QI Campus.
The college said this year's graduation ceremony will be held for two days across various time slots. The ceremony began yesterday, with tonight being the time slot for the last graduation ceremony.
This year's graduation ceremony will see 1,237 students from a variety of programs graduate, with 70 percent of them being female students, said the college.
Villa College went on to say that 60 percent of the students graduating this year are from Villa College's own programs. The first day of the graduation ceremony is being held for students who completed those programs.
Today's sessions will see students from programs run in collaboration with the United Kingdom's University of the West of England graduate.
The first session from yesterday's ceremony were students graduating from the Faculty of Educational Studies. Students from the first batch of the Masters of Teaching in Inclusive and Special Education Program were awarded their certificates in that session. The Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Heena Waleed attended the session as an honored guest.
During the ceremony, Minister Heena said the life of a country is built on the rate of scholarly and intellectual minds being formed. And so, she said the greatest responsibility in maintaining the nation's innovative and intellectual minds falls to the teachers that educate children.
Students from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology and the Qasim Ibrahim School of Business graduated in the second session of yesterday's graduation ceremony. The first batch of the college's Masters of Engineering's electrical, mechanical and mechatronics specializations graduated in the session as well.
The Minister of Fisheries, Agriculture and Ocean Resources Ahmed Shaheem attended the session as an honored guest. During the ceremony, the minister said the vision of a fully developed nation can only be achieved by training and building Maldivian students in the key sectors that are required for national development. He also highlighted Villa College's efforts in identifying useful industries for national development, and their provision of quality higher education and training in those sectors.
The third session during yesterday's ceremony saw the graduation of students from the Faculty of Health Sciences, Center for Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Shariah and Law, and the School of Psychology and Counseling. The first batch of students from the Masters of Organizational Psychology and Bachelor of Pharmacy program graduated in the session as well.
The honored guest in this session was the Minister of Health Geela Ali. She stated during the ceremony that Villa College has produced more than 2,000 graduates for the health sector. She also highlighted the major investments toward modern resources in education for the college's students.
Villa College announced their newly planned programs during the session:
- The CLTP program, which facilitates students acquiring a license to practice law in Maldives and for policing, criminology and criminal investigation in the judicial sector.
- Various nursing specializations, physiotherapy, speech therapy, laboratory science and Masters of Clinical Pharmacy in the health sector.
- Forensic Psychology and Health Psychology Masters specializations and a social work program in the psychology industry.
Villa College Rector Dr. Anwar Ahmed spoke at the graduation ceremony, stating that graduation symbolizes the hopes of families, and the hard work and sacrifice in gaining knowledge. The Rector called for all graduates to stand firm in the noble faith of Islam, to respect Maldivian culture and to become a trustworthy Maldivian.
Vice Rector Dr. Ali Najeeb said during the ceremony that this year's graduates will include more than 27,000 total graduates from Villa College. He also highlighted that these graduates are part of a strong network that has spread across all of Maldives and beyond the country, and that these numbers are proof that the vision held by Villa College founder Dr. Qasim Ibrahim in providing quality education for Maldivians while staying at their home nation is becoming a reality.
While shedding light of the international achievements Villa College has obtained, the Vice Rector said Villa College is the only institution that has achieved a QS Stars 5-Star rating out of all the universities, colleges and institutes in Maldives.
He also said Villa College ranked in the 401-600 range last year in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings list, with Villa College's overall ranking being in the 301-400 range this year. He said that Villa College also ranked in the Top 100 of the SDG 4 category, which assesses higher education providers.
The Vice Rector mentioned the two new important programs Villa College introduced this year. They are the "Graduate Impact Semester", a program that facilitates an environment where beneficial acts for society and industries on the efforts of Villa College graduates, and the "Graduate Learning Profile", a program that highlights academic capabilities, and the activities and experiences students take part in outside of the classroom.
