BUSINESS studies students from Redbridge College were among 300 privileged guest to be treated to a VIP dinner at Guildhall.

Richie Felix, 17, and Farhaan Mansoor, 18, were invited to the Annual Chairman’s Dinner of the Institute of Fiscal Studies’ School of Finance.

The event was hosted by Chairman Donald Brydon CBE FCIB, and attendees included top company executives and corporate heads of most of the major organisations in the financial services sector.

The keynote address was delivered by John Kay, Professor of Economics and Management at Oxford University and London Business School.

Richie, who is studying on the BTEC National Diploma in Business, said: “The evening was just superb, and being in the company of all those senior executives made me feel very proud.”

Farhaan added: “I found the experience very rewarding and the keynote address, which was about regulating versus deregulating the financial sector, was very interesting given the recession we are currently going through.”

Richie and Farhaan are part of the Redbridge College Business Studies Career Academy Programme, which has recently achieved 100 per cent success rates in the Level 3 (AS equivalent) Certificate in Financial Studies examination.

All of the students will now progress onto the (A2 equivalent) Diploma in Financial Studies in September 2009.

The department now plans to offer all students a financial qualification as part of its curriculum enrichment in the next academic year.