Eleven Tibetan Buddhists received the highest degree of the study of Tibetan Buddhism here on Thursday after accomplishing a one-year research course.

The degree, equivalent to doctorate, was granted by some eminent Tibetan monks in a temple in Beijing's northern downtown, which was built for the fifth Panchen Lama who journeyed to Beijing in 1652 to pay his respects to the emperor of China's last feudal dynasty Qing (1644-1911).

The graduates were enrolled in the China Advanced Tibetan Buddhism College in the Xihuang Temple after taking strict examinations at Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan last year.

Finishing courses of Buddhism, politics and culture that combine traditional Tibetan Buddhism education with modern teaching methods in the college, established 20 years ago as a training base for Tibetan Buddhists, the 11 monks will return to their hometowns and further spread the religion.

They are the third group of graduates from the college since 2004, when China launched the new degree system for the study of Tibetan Buddhism in an effort to improve the education and foster more outstanding monks.

Including the 11, there have been 33 graduates getting the doctorate from the college.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)