A BURY mother-of-two has become the first-ever graduate at the town's Holy Cross College.

Naghit Akhtar received her BSc Combined Honours degree in health studies and IT after completing a full-time course at the Manchester Road college.

The degree was awarded by the University of Liverpool and the ceremony took place in the city's Anglican Cathedral.

Naghit attended the ceremony with her father and sister, who had graduated just two days earlier at Manchester University.

The 34-year-old, of Walmersley Road, was also presented with the separate Network of Hope prize for Effort -- awarded for completing her studies by overcoming difficult circumstances.

This was in tribute to the fact that Naghit juggled her studies with her family commitments.

She has a nine-year-old daughter and a son, aged seven.

Naghit said: "In the future, I'm looking to do something like a teaching course in IT. I had worked at Bury Central Library for seven years but gave that up when I had my second child."

She began her studies in September 2001, the year Holy Cross began to offer degree courses on a full-time basis.

More than 500 students study on their courses in the evening, with the majority opting to do so on the part-time route.

This September looks set to see a total of 700 higher education students choosing the programme offered at Holy Cross, which is run in partnership with Liverpool Hope University College.

John Barton, head of adult programmes at Holy Cross, said: "All the staff at the college are extremely proud of Naghit's success and the success of the higher education courses at the college.

"Next year, significant numbers of students will graduate within the Honours

degree and Foundation degree programmes. The majority of these students would not have been able to follow traditional routes into higher education courses, but the opportunity to study locally on either a full-time or part-time basis has enabled this."

Anyone interested in following in Naghit's footsteps should contact the adult programmes office at Holy Cross on (0161) 762 4513/4529.