Pan-Atlantic University on Saturday, December 1, 2018, honoured 69 candidates as pioneer first-degree holders at the 15th convocation ceremony of the institution. Nineteen candidates graduated in Accounting, 25 in Business Administration and 25 in Mass Communication.
Miss Oluwadarasimi Tijani who studied Accounting scored a CGPA of 4.93 out of 5 to top the graduating class. Augustine Chukwuma Nwosu with 4.60 CGPA led the Mass Communication class while Kehinde Olaide Kehinde with 4.90 led in Business Administration. Miss Chisimchere Akunna Chukwu of the M.Sc. Journalism stream topped the master’s degree class.
Dr Kizito Alakwe, an entrepreneur in the integrated marketing communication space, emerged the first to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Media and Communication from the School of Media and Communication.
Pan-Atlantic University awarded certifications to 235 successful candidates at the 15th convocation. The candidates emerged from three schools of the institution, namely the Lagos Business School (LBS), the School of Management and Social Sciences (SMSS) and the School of Media and Communication (SMC).
They included four candidates from the Post Graduate Diploma in Media and Communication, 34 in the full-timeM.Sc. in Media and Communication, seven from the part-time and one in the Doctor of Philosophy programme.
The MBA programme of the Lagos Business School graduated 117 candidates. There were 27 from the full-time programme; 69 from the Executive MBA, 21 from the Modular Executive MBA. There were also a successful MPhil and two PhDs in Business Administration.
Pioneer professor of entrepreneurship at the Lagos Business School of the university, Prof Pat Utomi, gave the convocation lecture. He affirmed that education matters and made the difference between Africa and Europe in development. The question Does Education Matter? arose in the South East as the aftermath of the civil war as the trader-entrepreneurs seemed to make faster progress in material terms and the society tended to value material progress above all else.
Studies and experience have shown however that education, healthcare, and culture are pillars of progress for societies across all areas of development, Prof Utomi stated. While the whims of government policy may hobble the trader, the educated man can more readily change course relying on the solid foundation of his education.
He charged the new graduates to go out as “values-driven leaders” confident in their capacity to tackle the challenges of a changing world including the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Pan Atlantic University is a private institution of higher learning located in Lagos. It commenced with the Lagos Business School. LBS offers several MBA programmes and provides experienced managers with high-quality general management education relevant to the Nigerian business environment. It offers open-enrolment seminars, the MBA and a PhD in Management. It has multiple accreditations.
The School of Media and Communication emerged in recognition of the critical role of the media and entertainment industries in shaping societal values and cultural life and the growing contribution of the creative industries to the Nigerian economy. It offers the BSc in Mass Communication and Information Science and Media Studies, full and part-time MSc and PhD in Media and Communication as well as certificate programmes for professionals.
The School of Management and Social Science aims to deliver economic and business education relevant to a rapidly evolving global environment. SMSS offers BSc programmes in accounting, business administration and economics and a doctoral programme in management. The Enterprise Development Centre offers open-enrolment programmes to develop entrepreneurial capacity in small and medium scale enterprises.