Fife-based couple celebrate a degree each and 14 years of marriage

Elsie Francis toasted the occasion with her husband as she emulated his achievement of graduating from Edinburgh Napier – on their wedding anniversary.

Elsie collected her MSc in Business Information Technology 15 months after the university awarded her other half, Bulabari, an MBA in Leadership Practice.

Elsie said: “It was disappointing for Bulabari and other 2020 graduates not to get their degrees at the Usher Hall last year.

“But we can now celebrate both of us becoming graduates on what was already a special date in our diaries!”

Elsie and Bulabari, of Kirkcaldy, first met in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in October 2006 and were married there exactly one year later.

Bulabari was first to move to Scotland, to study for his MBA at Edinburgh Napier, in January 2018 while Elsie stayed in Nigeria to juggle her post-graduate studies with a busy job as an executive assistant and caring for their three children.

However, they all spent a wonderful family Christmas together in Scotland the following December and decided that was where their future lay.

Bulabari, 48, is now working as a project planning specialist with an English-based gas distribution company.

Now she too has finished her studies, Elsie is looking to pursue a career in business analysis.

Wednesday’s Edinburgh Napier autumn graduation ceremony is the first to take place at the Usher Hall since the pandemic struck.

Bulabari said: “We have moved from Rosyth to Kirkcaldy but we really love it in Scotland and are looking forward to growing old together here.”

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