The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham has described Ghana’s Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as “the most distinguished alumnus ever” of the school.

Sir Anthony Seldon, who was speaking at the graduation ceremony for the 2019 Humanities and Law graduates of the University on Friday, 22 March 2019, said although Buckingham University had students and alumni drawn from over 81 countries, it was “an honour and a privilege” to have a member of the “wonderful family” as the number two man in one of the greatest countries in Africa and the world.

Dr Bawumia graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Buckingham, Britain’s first independent university, in 1987, and was invited as the Inspirational Speaker for the 2019 graduation ceremony. In a repeat of history, another Ghanaian student of the university, Mr Akwasi Nyame-Baafi, graduated with First Class Honours in Economics in the 2019 batch.

“Your Excellency, the Vice-President of Ghana … We are deeply honoured to have you today with us as our Inspirational Speaker, not the least because you are, perhaps, our most distinguished ever alumnus, and we are so so proud to have you back at your alma mater”, Sir Seldon declaimed in his welcome remarks.

While the University of Buckingham has always pushed for diversity in faculties and students, with a grounding in acceptance and reverence and respect for every nation, religion or culture, it was particularly gratifying to have one of its own as the Vice-President of a sovereign nation, according to Sir Anthony Seldon.

“It is a wonderful family to be part of, and I can’t tell you what an honour (it is to have him here as our Inspirational Speaker). I mean the Vice-President of one of the great countries in Africa and one of the great countries in the world!

“We are going to be hearing a lot more of you and of your country in the years to come,” the Buckingham V-C predicted.

Addressing the mixed audience of students, families and faculty, Vice President Bawumia encouraged the graduands to nurture and maintain the bonds of friendship formed in the hot crucible of the academic environment, saying such relationships will play a very important role in the successes and failures they may encounter in life outside school.

Recalling his own experiences as a student and later as a banker-turned-politician, Dr Bawumia charged the students to see every seeming set back as an opportunity to strive even harder to achieve their goals.

Dr Bawumia later inaugurated the University of Buckingham Students of Ghanaian Origin (UBUSOGO) association, a body bringing together current students and alumni of the university.