Two Top Students Receive Double Degree from Wittenborg and the University of Brighton

At this year’s Summer Graduation Ceremony, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences boasted three honours students – in other words, students who achieved a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 8.0 or higher. All 3 are from developing countries and all are women.

They are Tatiana Nesterenko from Belarus, Maria (Maru) Lizarraga from Mexico and Nirusika Ratnasingam from Sri Lanka.

Wittenborg’s chair of the executive board, Peter Birdsall, said in his speech he couldn’t be prouder. “Not only do we have our first double-degree students from Amsterdam, but two of them attained a first-class honours degree from Brighton as well.”

The deputy vice-chancellor of Brighton, Prof Chris Pole, also attended the ceremony. In his speech he said universities are becoming more and more inclusive, giving people from many backgrounds the opportunity to transform their lives and prospects.

Nirusika will move to Germany after graduating and plans to do a Master degree. She received great praise for her dissertation on developing a customer engagement model to ensure the sustainability of the tea industry. Sri Lanka is one of the world’s top tea producers.

Maria said Wittenborg gave her "a lot". "It was such an honour to meet friends like Tatiana who wants to make an impact in the world. The people I studied with were a bit younger than me and gave me an introduction to the millennial world - they are all so idealistic. I cannot describe my happiness right now."

Tatiana said she plans to stay in the Netherlands after graduation, and will continue with her career here.

WUP 26/7/2018

by Anesca Smith
©WUAS Press