The first batch of students who completed their degrees at the Imperial Institute of Higher Education (IIHE) have been awarded honours degrees by the University of Wales a press release quoting the institute said. Announcing details of this feat, IIHE academic affairs director Daya Jayasinghe said that all 12 graduating students, representing the institute’s first batch, received B.Sc. (Hons) degree business management.

"We are proud of our students and their achievements," Jayasinghe said. "Most of them have already been offered employment in Sri Lanka, while some have gone overseas for postgraduate studies". He said these results were a testimony to the quality of the IIHE’s academic staff and also the standard of the facilities and conditions provided by the institute to students.

The IIHE is the validated centre of the University of Wales UOW in the Indian subcontinent region. Examinations and associated assessment procedures are conducted under the supervision of moderators and external examiners appointed by the UOW. It also comes under the scrutiny of the quality assurance agency for higher education UK.

The IIHE began operations in Colombo in February 1997. The institute offers access to university education programme for those who do not as yet have the appropriate formal entry qualifications and want to study for a degree on an equivalent course in higher education. Its undergraduate programme offers B.Sc. (Hons) degrees in business management, accounting and finance, banking and finance and economics. The institute also offers an MBA programme of either one year full time or two years part time.