U.B. graduates first Executive MBAs
They finish a long day at work, then turn around and hit their school books. No, these aren’t early dropouts catching up on a high school diploma; they’re some of the country’s top executives in search of advanced skills. Marion Ali spoke to a few of them this afternoon.
Marilyn Ordonez, Asst. Commissioner, Income Tax Dept.
“It’s been very hectic because I work full time and I had to do the programme part time, which was after work between 5:00 to 9:00, and projects were done after 9:00. So at times we were up very late and sometimes we don’t sleep at all.”
Anuar Flores, Business Consultant
“It’s always been my dream to do the best that I can in whatever I do. And although the time was very challenging and the task was very challenging, I guess I studied very hard and put in a lot of work in it.”
Marion Ali, Reporting
These are two of the proud nineteen graduates who will tonight receive certificates from U.B.’s Executive Masters in Business Administration programme. According to U.B.’s Business Administration Programme Director, Sylvia Cattouse, the course started two and a half years ago after persistent demand for advanced business skills.
Sylvia Cattouse, Dir. Business Administration Programme
“Over the past ten years, beginning with the University College of Belize, we had been graduating a number of people with just a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. There was market demand for it, and as well, the university felt that it had saturated the market with business administration Bachelor’s degree professionals. And so, it was time for us to bring in a programme at the Master’s level.”
The course started under an alliance between the University of Belize and the U.W.I.’s Cavehill campus. Doctor Jeannine Comma, C.E.O., of U.W.I.’s Centre for Management Development, says it caters mainly to professionals.
Dr. Jeannine Comma, Centre for Management Dev., U.W.I.
“Our target group is the busy executive, the senior executive, who does not want to leave his or her home and or his or her job, but wants to remain on site and still be able to achieve at the end of the day the MBA certification. The executive element of it really is because of the target group and the way in which it is actually conducted. We say the modality, it is done in a modular fashion and it really has significant linkages with what the person is doing at his or her job.”
The graduation ceremony and banquet is set to start at 7:00 tonight at the Princess Hotel.
Marion Ali for News 5.
A second cohort started at U.B. in October of last year. Valedictorian of the class is Gilroy Graham of Grace Kennedy.
