Eleven Tibetan Buddhists received the "Tho Ram Pa" degree, one of the highest academic degrees for the Tibetan Buddhism, here on Monday.

The monks, from the Gelug and Nyingma sects of the Tibetan Buddhism, were granted the degree, which is equivalent to doctorate, in Beijing's High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China.

The 11th Panchen Lama takes a photo with the Tibetan Buddhist monks who were awarded the "Tho Ram Pa" degree, one of the highest academic degrees for the Tibetan Buddhism, in Beijing on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

A total of 55 graduates from the college have been coffered the degree since 2004, when the degree system was launched in an effort to improve the study of Tibetan Buddhism and the training of outstanding monks.

Before the degree awarding ceremony, the monks paid religious homage to the 11th Panchen Lama. Eminent monks from Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan and teachers and students from the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China joined the religious activity.

Jamyang Losangjigme Tubdainqoigyi Nyima (L2), president of the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China, presents a hada to the 11th Panchen Lama Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu in Beijing on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)