Kampala, 12 September 2018 – Virtual University of Uganda (VUU), Sub-Saharan Africa’s first fully online university has pledged to partner with the government, industry, academia, civil society and professional bodies to deliverquality graduates.
Addressing participants at the VUU strategic engagement event today, Mr. Grayson Nash, the university Board Chairman,said, “We are committed to developing relevant and applicable qualifications to fill the skills gap currently being faced inAfrica. We are significantly investing in developing curricula relevant for the industry and are benchmarking our programmesagainst international standards.”
Prof. PatrickMangheni, the Chairman of VUU’s University Council highlighted that “VUU is committed to working with key stakeholdersto develop excellent education programmes and deliver them from Uganda to the world. We are ready to partner with the responsible bodies to develop appropriate curriculum and support government and industry in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their development agendas by providing relevant high-quality education.”
Prof. Everd Maniple, the Vice Chancellor VUU noted that “Currently, over 60% of our faculty is at PhD level. What makes us unique is our international reach, our tutors and lecturers comefrom 13 countries and we teach students from over 15 countries.VUU is ready to support policy makers and industry players toconduct research and training to facilitate decision making in Africa and beyond. We recognize that to develop relevant and quality graduates, we must partner with the right stakeholders. This event serves as affirmation of VUU’s commitment to collaborate with the right stakeholders, to deliver quality graduates and facilitate national and international development.”
Mr. Moses Watasa, the Commissioner Information Monitoring & Dissemination, at the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, commended VUU for its innovative and transformative education model and the insightful panel discussion on the power of digital learning. “You cannot delink digital, new knowledge and even online learning from the trajectory of social-economic transformation of a country and region.” Mr. Watasa spoke on behalf of Mr. Frank Tumwebaze, the minister for ICT and National Guidance.
“I am happy that the university has developed and continues to develop relevanthigh-quality post-graduate programmes as well as short courses.This is a positive contribution in addressing the skills-gaps that we have. VUU will inevitablycontribute to national, regional and international development; making Uganda, Africaand the rest of the world a better place” he said adding that Government, will support progressive initiatives by Virtual University of Uganda.
VUU is already collaborating with key stakeholders including the government, professional bodies, civil society and academia; to aid in curriculum development and ensure graduates have relevant, quality applicable skills. The University is currently offering programmes in Public Health, International Development, Business Administration & Management, Information and Communication Technology,and Oil & Gas.
This second high-profile event hosted by VUU this year, was held under the theme Harnessing Digital Learning for a Successful Futureand attracted participants from several sectors in the economy. The evening’s keynote speaker, Dr. Ham Mukasa Mulira, Senior Presidential Advisor on ICT, Office of the President, shared insights on leveraging digital technologies to improve learning to facilitate national and international development.According to the Uganda Communications Commission, Uganda has up to 18.2 million internet users.
A panel of renowned experts in the fields of Information and Communication Technology, International Development, Business Administration & Management, Public Health, and Oil & Gas,including Mr. Greg Coleman, Prof. Anthony Mbonye, Dr. Amina Zawedde, and Dr. Adalbertus Kamanzi discussed how to leverage digital learning to promote national and international development.
