NICK Jackson, Director of Information Technology and senior lecturer at the University of Kent Law School, was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Bermuda College/Kent Law Stage One LLB programme last Thursday evening.

Ameenah Ahad, the College's programme director, said a distinguished visitor from the University of Kent visits every year to discuss the progress of the programme, and to take part in the ceremonies.

"At the completion of studies, we present certificates or acknowledge that the students have completed the first stage of the programme," she said, "and that they can go on to the University of Kent to complete their degree course. We have eight graduates this year, and three of them are graduating with merit.

"Every year, Kent sends a representative of the Law School, and Nick is making his first visit this year. We like to have lecturers visit so that they can meet the students and vice versa; the students who have completed the first stage can find out more about the workings of the University before they travel to England.

"In fact, Nick and I have had a lot of e-mail communication about IT services, so we will be able to discuss some improvements face to face."

"The programme offers five courses in the first year programme, the same ones they would take if they were actually in Kent, and they're listening to the same lectures and lecturers. But we also have seminars here that are led by Bermuda lawyers.

"If, after finishing the first year here, they go on to Kent for two more years, they will graduate with a Bachelor's in Law, an LLB. When they finish the first year, our part of the programme, they can either finish and get a Certificate in Law, or go on to complete the degree."

Mrs. Ahad said the majority of students would like to proceed to completion of the degree course, but that only one planned to travel to the Kent campus this year.

While Mr.Jackson was pleased to be in Bermuda for the events, he said he had not lectured the students taking part in stage one of the programme.

"The teaching I do is in stage two of the programme, at Kent, and I will be talking about that. Also, on Thursday, we had the presentation of the certificates to graduates. We have had this programme running, in its present form, for about five years, but our association with the College goes back much further than that."

Mr.Jackson graduated with an M.A. and an LLB from Cambridge, but has been a member of the faculty at Kent for almost 30 years. He has also held a National Teaching Fellowship since 2002.

"I am enjoying the visit very much," he said, "and don't know how anyone could fail to be impressed by the island."