Tag Archives: China

Uganda Christian University education opens doors

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Mahoro Anitah Mugisha – UCU graduate with multiple career choices

By Patty Huston-Holm
For Mahoro Anitah Mugisha, Uganda Christian University (UCU) was a launching pad for her career experiences at the Uganda Communications Commission, Uganda National Roads Authority, Rwanda Development Board and Sino Africa Medicines and Health and to try her hand at selling on-line products. It also opened the door for her to study in China.

“It’s a Christian environment, and I’m a born-again Christian,” she said. “But the reputation and networking with other students and people associated with UCU make it so much more.”

While eating a meal of mushroom-covered chicken, mashed potatoes and rice at Kampala’s Mediterraneo restaurant, Mugisha talked about what led her to study towards her bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and the UCU quality education and reputation and something that she didn’t expect – openness to other cultures and ideas.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree in 2016, she worked and volunteered and then applied to get a post-graduate degree at a university in China. In July of 2019, she received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of International Business and Economics and Economics, Beijing China.

“Having a degree in one specialty shouldn’t lock you in,” she said. “You can use that knowledge and skills in so many areas.”

So it was that the little girl who once dreamed of doing voices for animated films and then to be a veterinarian found herself in mass communications with skills to transfer and use in multiple places. Event planning, public speaking and technology file management are just a few.

“UCU helped me become serious while providing me the opportunity to network and explore,” said Mugisha, who at age 26 in September was working at Visit Uganda Tours and Travel LTD.

Exposure to like-minded and different students at UCU and in China has opened her world views, stimulated her desire to know people of different cultures and given her confidence to step outside the norm. Her best friend in China was from Afghanistan. She watches the news about the China-Hong Kong protests with a more informed understanding. She has a pet rabbit and kitten in a country where people are known for fear and dislike of pets.

“Society doesn’t generally push you to explore various dimensions of your personality,” she said. “A university education does. I’m not sure what I will do next but I know that I’ll keep growing.”

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To support Uganda Christian University students, programs and facilities, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at mtbartels@gmail.com.
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UCU International Connections

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Linda Uhligo, a UCUstudent from Germany, with a UCU Sunday School child. (UCU Partners photo)

By Twesiime Jordan McGurran

Universities and colleges around the world are seeking to form partnerships, collaborations, and connections with other educational institutions, governments, civil society organizations, churches, and various types of organizations. These partnerships are designed to enhance the work within the universities – in their molding of students, research potential, service to the larger society, financial or technological growth, and the building of goodwill among communities from different regions of the world.

Uganda Christian University (UCU) has been working on building such connections since the University’s formal inception in 1997.

The longest in existence and widest impacting in terms of student numbers outside the continent of Africa is the Uganda Studies Program (USP), a study abroad program of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). This USA-based Christian higher education consortium is composed of more than 180 institutions around the world, including UCU. Twice a year – in the Advent (September) and Easter (January) semesters – the UCU community welcomes about 25-30 students from North America. Mark Bartels, Uganda Christian University Partners executive director, and his wife, Abby, started USP about 15 years ago. In that time, USP has skillfully hosted over 800 students at UCU.

While there are several clusters of international students who come from other parts of Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan and Kenya, USP is the largest contingent of students who come to UCU from outside the African continent.

Beyond USP, UCU also has several current and ongoing international collaborations between UCU and other schools, governments, or civil society organizations.  These include but are not limited to:

  • The Faculty of Journalism, Media, and Mass Communications,between 2014 and 2018, in partnership with the Norwegian Teacher Academy (NLA) and the University of Kwazulu-Natal of South Africa under the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research (NORHED),has provided faculty opportunities for postgraduate studies, including MA and PhD studies, in communication-related courses in Norway.  Additionally, in the past, occasionally NLA undergraduates have come to study at UCU.
  • The child-focused international NGO, Compassion International, regularly has a contingent of students at UCU who are have been supported through their university studies by their Compassion sponsors. They have their own association and fellowship on campus.
  • The Law Faculty maintains several relationships with law schools outside of the country. Among these are: 1) partnership with the University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College of Law, where a few UCU graduates have gone for postgraduate studies and from which some Cincinnati visits have occurred at UCU: and 2) Regent University (Virginia)’s Law School collaboration with UCU for over five years in various capacities that include hosting some short-term study trips and internships for Regent students in Uganda.
  • UCU’s Social Work and Social Administration Department has collaborated for several years with the Social Work department at Radford University in Virginia related to social work educational experiences and research in Uganda.
  • Trinity International University, Illinois, has sent students (usually during May) for “Global Experience” trips to see Uganda and engage with UCU students.
  • Internationale Hochschule Liebenzell, a German theological college, is a new partnership with students coming from Germany to study at UCU for at least a semester.(Later this week, UCU Partners will post a separate story on one of these students.)
  • Bethel University (Minnesota) has a 14-year (since 2005), bilateral partnership with the Nursing Department that has borne much fruit for UCU – including a degree completion and masters program in nursing.  There have been eight groups of UCU students who have spent 6-10 weeks at Bethel, while some students from Bethel also have come to learn at UCU. 
  • Recently, UCU has been in talks with Tsinghua University, a well-ranked post-secondary institution in Beijing, China, to formalize a partnership related to research, educational exchange, and technological development.

Beyond these international connections, UCU students can be found pursuing further studies, completing internships, or employed in places such as the UK, Belgium, India, China, and the United States.

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COMING THURSDAY (February 28, 2019)…The UCU Partners blog will publish an interview with one of its international students.

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For more information about how you can support Uganda Christian University to continue to form these international partnerships and/or to become a partner, please contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners executive director, at mtbartels@gmail.com. Also, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.