School leader course delivers 50th graduate -The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree course in educational leadership has delivered it |30 May 2008
The ceremony at the National Institute of Education (NIE) also saw the first PhD graduate under the programme – Marie-Therese Purvis, Doctor of Philosophy in Education, with her 
It was attended, among others, by Vice-President Joseph Belmont, Designated Minister Danny Faure, Minister for Education Bernard Shamlaye, leader of the opposition Wavel Ramkalawan, NIE director Alex Souffe and Professor Tony Bush from Warwick University in the UK, which ran the latter stages of the programme.
The 12 graduates are the first to complete their training with Warwick, and they received their certificates from Professor Bush, who was representing the university’s vice-chancellor.
A last batch of 12 school leaders, plus an extra three studying for their doctorate, is following courses at the university as the programme enters its final year. Previous leadership graduates, 39 in all, had completed courses with the University of Lincoln in the UK.
Congratulating the graduates, Mr Shamlaye said their achievements highlighted the success of the leadership programme, set up as part of a school improvement drive to empower educational leaders and managers. The trained leaders should now be able to form the critical mass that will bring about more of the changes envisaged by the School Improvement Programme (SIP).
Minister Shamlaye addressing the graduates and guests
The SIP aims to transform school culture and enable school leaders and staff to become active in managing improvement in their schools. Mr Shamlaye said this calls for radical changes in the roles of headteachers and other leaders which the MBA programme provides for.
He added that through the MBA programme we now have a body of research on Seychelles’ education system, and he called on the NIE to compile all the findings for the future development of education policy and so they are more accessible to all partners in education.
Professor Bush said the MBA programme represents a very clear commitment by the Seychelles government to improve education, and it deserves immense credit for establishing and sustaining it.
He said MBA graduates are now making vital contributions to the country’s education system, as headteachers, deputy heads, middle-level managers and leaders in higher education groups such as the NIE and the Ministry of Education.
Speaking of Warwick’s qualification to be a partner in the programme, Professor Bush said the university is one of the leading 12 such institutions in the UK. Recent research has shown it to be fourth best overall and second best in education.