Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela to receive honorary doctorate degree from six universities

May 7th, 2010 - 5:06 am ICT by BNO News  

MADRID, SPAIN (BNO NEWS) – Nelson Mandela will be receiving an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Laureate International Universities (LIU) network, LIU said Thursday.

Mandela, the first president of South Africa to be elected democratically and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been constantly recognized for his endless battle against racial segregation within and beyond the borders of his country. The six universities in the LIU network will be awarding the honorary degree to Mandela in a ceremony, which will be held in Madrid, Spain on Friday.

“Nelson Mandela has shown us the better side of humanity and his historic accomplishments will continue to inspire future generations,” said Douglas L. Becker, chairman and chief executive officer of Laureate Education, Inc.

“With grace, integrity and unrelenting determination, he has demonstrated the potential in each of us to effect positive change. Nelson Mandela once said ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’. This is our mission at Laureate International Universities; we are dedicated to expanding access to education because we believe that when our students succeed, countries prosper and societies benefit,” Becker added.

The universities awarding Mandala include Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain), Universidad Andres Bello (Chile), Walden University (Minneapolis, USA), Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (Peru), Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey) and Universidad de las Americas (Ecuador), which enroll nearly 150,000 students and are each considered leading institutions in their countries.

“Education is the great engine of personal development,” said Nelson Mandela. “It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

On behalf of Mandela will be Vusi Bruce Koloane, ambassador of South Africa in Spain to receive the award. Sathyandranath Ragunanan “Mac” Maharaj, a political activist who served time in prison with Mandela on Robben Island, and British writer and journalist John Carlin, author of the novel Playing the Enemy, on which the feature film Invictus is based will also be participating in the ceremony.

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