Dragon’s Den star honoured on day five of graduation

With several successful businesses in the leisure and retail sector under her belt, she became managing director of her family's holiday park business, Weststar Holidays, acquired the major shareholding in a management buyout and later sold the company in a deal worth £33 million whilst retaining a 23% stake. She sold her remaining stake when the business was sold for £83 million in August 2007.

Deborah joined the panel of investors for series three of the BBC2 programme 'Dragons' Den' and has since invested in a number of businesses, both in the south west of England where she lives and across the UK.

Professor John Bessant from the University's Business School said 'By raising the profile of entrepreneurship, and in particular extending our understanding of the process, Deborah has helped alert a wide audience to the possibilities of getting their ideas in acton.'

Next to be honoured is Exeter based internationally renowned artist, Elaine M Goodwin.

Elaine specialises in mosaic and her work can be seen in national and private galleries and collections throughout Europe and world-wide. Currently she is exhibiting in Luxembourg and France. She is best known for giving a contemporary and personal insight into the art of mosaic. A prolific writer on all aspects of mosaic, her publications include An Encyclopedia of Mosaic, Classic Mosaic and The Figure in Mosaic, and most recently, Mosaic Today.

Finally, Professor Jane Knight takes to the stage.

After graduating from the University of Western Ontario Jane worked in the field of child development and child advocacy with the Canadian Council on Children and Youth. This led to a posting at UNESCO in Paris, followed by several years of community work in India and China. After many years abroad Jane returned to Canada and embarked on her PhD. Her research focused on the international dimension of higher education. She was committed to expanding university partnerships with developing countries and helping students learn about and experience other countries and cultures during their university studies.

Currently, she is an adjunct professor at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her work with universities, UN agencies, foundations, and professional groups in over 60 countries of the world helps to bring a comparative, development and international perspective to her research, teaching and policy work. She is the author of numerous publications and sits on the advisory boards of several international organizations and journals. Her focus for the last five years has been on Africa and as co-founder of the African Network for the Internationalization of Education.