Saarah Shiraz
Saarah Shiraz achieved First Class Honours in Business Administration BA (Hons), which she completed through a distance learning programme.
"Getting a First-Class Honours was quite literally a dream that I thought might not be possible,” said the 22-year-old, from Columbo. “Results day, regardless of what exams you sat for, would always stir up a nervousness that you never knew you had, and when I read that I got a First Class I was absolutely delighted! It had been one of my greatest achievements at the time.”
Saarah completed Edexcel IGCSEs and IALs at Gateway College in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She completed the NCC Level 4 Diploma and Level 5 Advanced Diploma in Business before moving on to the University of Worcester distant learning program for her final year.
During her degree Saarah started her own online business, which provides designing and printing solutions for small home-based and online businesses in Sri Lanka. She said: “The purpose of this business is to provide support for many women who do small home-based or online businesses out of passion, such as baking, catering, tailoring, event planning or even teaching through affordable solutions for their branding and marketing, such as business cards, leaflets, packaging stickers and product labels etc. It has been three years since I started this, and it is something I hope to continue to do in the future.”
She recently completed a Pre-MBA in Human Resources Management and is currently looking for job opportunities in this field to continue learning.
Saarah chose the University of Worcester as it was able to offer an online solution through NCC Education, meaning she did not have to travel abroad.
“It helped me save so much time and money and it was the best decision I have made so far,” she added. “But this did not mean that there was any less support from any of the administrative or academic staff, they were all so wonderful and helpful with everything I needed every step of the way.”
As a result of this, Saarah was also recently granted the opportunity to be the Online Learning Ambassador for NCC Education in Sri Lanka.