University of Leicester celebrates 'Women of Influence'
16th June 2010

The Right Honourable Baroness Hazel Byford DBE and Christine Fyfe, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Leicester hosted a 'Women of Influence' lunch to celebrate the achievements of female alumni and applaud patrons and sponsors affiliated to the University. Guests included 2010 Asian Women of Achievement Public Sector Award winner Dr Monica Lakhanpaul, Dr Yasmin Jetha, Chief Information Officer at Bupa who was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in 2005, Vijay Sharma, Head of BBC Asian Network and Cllr Manjula Sood, Deputy Lord Mayor of Leicester who was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2008.

Pro Vice Chancellor Christine Fyfe gave the welcome address and highlighted the considerable achievements of the University of Leicester, including:

• The University of Leicester is ranked 12th in the Guardian University League Table.
• It is the only top 20 university to meet government benchmarks for inclusivity among state schools pupils and students from lower socio-economic groups.
• It won the 2009/10 THE Award for Outstanding Student Support.
• It won the 2008/09 THE Award for University of the Year.
• The University of Leicester is ranked in the top 3% of universities in the world by two international studies.
• Leicester is a member of the 1994 Group of internationally renowned universities engaged in leading-edge research and high-quality teaching.
• Research has shown the Leicester students are the most satisfied in England and it has a high student completion rate (91% of students leave with a degree).
• The University has students from 67 countries outside the European Union with 17% of students from India & Pakistan.

"When we were named the Times Higher Education (THE) University of the Year for 2008/09, the judges applauded Leicester's very different approach, calling us 'elite without being elistist' and we liked this ethos. It reflects how we see ourselves" said Christine Fyfe. Vijay Sharma gave the keynote speech and announced that the University of Leicester is to open a new Cardiovascular Research Centre (CRC). The Department of Cardiovascular Sciences is led by Professor Nilesh Samani and boasts world leading researchers and clinicians in many areas including genetics, vascular surgery, stent devices, valve replacement, diabetes and hypertension. The new CRC will tackle vanguard challenges in cardiovascular disease and radically transform the scale and quality of research undertaken. The new CRC will provide new laboratory space, a clinical research informatics unit, the Leicester Biobank for storing biological samples used for research for up to 100,000 individuals and a data-to-knowledge unit. The fundraising team plan to raise £4 million towards the total £12 million needed to complete new facility.

Visit www.le.ac.uk for further information.