Identical twins Sandhya and Sangeeta Raniga will both receive their masters of financial management at a graduation ceremony at the University of Queensland on Wednesday, December 17, at 4pm.
The ceremony for Faculty of Business, Economics and Law graduates will be held in Mayne Hall on the St Lucia campus. At 6.15pm, Faculty of Arts graduates will receive their degrees.
University Deputy Chancellor Dr Mary Mahoney will deliver the address of welcome at the 4pm ceremony while University Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Ted Brown will deliver the address of welcome at the 6.15pm ceremony.
- Chair of Theiss Contractors Pty Ltd, Rod Wylie, will deliver the address to graduates at the 4pm ceremony. Until his retirement in 1984, Mr Wylie was senior partner of the accounting firm Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co in Queensland and deputy chair of the Australian firm's national executive committee. Mr Wylie is also deputy chair of Leighton Holdings Limited, chair of QUF Industries Ltd and a director of the AMP Society and Queensland Alumina Limited. He is non-executive chair of the Queensland Competition Authority.
- Brisbane Lord Mayor Councillor Jim Soorley will deliver the address to graduates at the 6.15pm ceremony.
- Andrew Carrick will deliver the valedictory address at the 4pm ceremony. Graduating with a bachelor of commerce (honours) degree, Mr Carrick will soon join Ernst and Young as a graduate accountant. He will continue part-time studies at the University towards his bachelor of laws. While at University, Mr Carrick said he had enjoyed tutoring many commerce students in the areas of auditing and financial accounting as well as living at St John's College for the first four years of his studies. For his speech, Mr Carrick said he would use humour to highlight the importance of family support and friendship to University students. 'With the help of the other Commerce honours students, I have devised a calculation comparing the amount and cost of caffeine beverages consumed by the average student with the amount of money invested by students' parents and the University in their education. I suggest the money spent by all concerned would buy a lot of Government bonds!' For more information, contact Mr Carrick (telephone 07 3871 2343).
- Identical twins Sandhya and Sangeeta Raniga, 24, will both graduate with masters of financial management from the University's Commerce Department at the 4pm ceremony. Originally from Fiji, the twins moved to Australia in 1990 and completed bachelor of commerce degrees at Deakin University in Victoria. Sandhya, who is five minutes older than her sister, said the pair decided on the course because they wanted to add to their undergraduate qualifications with a view to one day working for the family's large snackfoods and confectionary company, Majans. Sandhya said the family company was dominated by male relatives. 'We wanted to prove ourselves as it is unusual for women from our family to go on to postgraduate studies,' Sandhya said. As a part of the twins' desire to work independently from the family concern for the time being, Sandhya is working as an accountant with Arthur Anderson's tax division while Sangeeta is working as an accountant with Grant Thornton's audit and business advisory section.
Sandhya said she and her sister found the masters course very interesting and at times challenging. 'We were the youngest people in every class,' she said. She said the course format had allowed the sisters to study different units at different times. 'Because we are so close, sometimes our ideas are similar,' she said. The only time the twins argued was when they both had to use their home computer at the same time. 'One of us would eventually succumb and go and use the office computers,' Sandhya said. Being identical, she said some University staff and even friends had occasionally found it difficult to tell them apart however once in exam or lecture rooms, it was an easy task - 'I am right-handed while Sangeeta is left-handed,' Sandhya said. Their mother Daya and father Hari will be on hand to see them awarded their degrees at the ceremony. For more information, contact Sandhya (telephone 07 3376 6030 at home or 07 3309 4866 at work).
- The bachelor of business (management) continues the tradition of excellence offered by the University of Queensland with the first graduates of the course receiving degrees on December 17. Thirty-two graduates have completed the degree which was first offered in 1996. These students transferred from other degree programs and from a number of other universities once this new degree became available at the University of Queensland. Students will be graduating with bachelor of business (management) degrees specialising in areas such as marketing, human resources management, industrial relations and organisational behaviour. For more information, contact Melissa Parker (telephone 07 3365 6288).
For more information, contact Protocol Officer Karen Welsh (telephone 07 3365 2737).
