Tag Archives: Science

Christian Heddergott at Uganda Christian University (UCU Partners Photo)

Germany student reflects on experience studying in Uganda

Science and Technology, , , , , ,
Christian Heddergott at Uganda Christian University (UCU Partners Photo)
Christian Heddergott at Uganda Christian University (UCU Partners Photo)


NOTE: Over the years, hundreds of students have come from around the world to study at Uganda Christian University (UCU). Christian Heddergott is one of these students. A master’s student of Environmental Engineering from Leipzig University of Applied Sciences in Saxony, Germany, he began taking UCU classes in August 2018. Some of his experience is reflected here in an interview edited for clarity.

By Brendah Ndagire

How did you hear about Uganda Christian University?
Leipzig University of Applied Sciences in Saxony, Germany, and UCU have a partnership. I was checking some study abroad databases, and I identified UCU. I have always wanted to do a semester abroad and recognizing that my University has a partnership with UCU, I decided to have a semester in Uganda. I had never been to Sub Saharan Africa, and  this was a great opportunity for me, mostly because it gets difficult to travel and experience new ideas, culture and perspectives later in life. It is usually easier when you are younger and a student. I have always been interested in new cultures in new countries, and that’s part of why I am here.

Can you briefly describe what you study?
I am a student in the master’s program in Environmental Science. And I am here for two semesters. Initially, I was supposed to be here for one semester (August to December). Currently, I am considering doing a master thesis and after speaking with my supervisor, I decided to stay for another semester. To be honest, I really like it here in Uganda. Living in a new country for a few months is a short period. To really settle down, to get to know people, and cultivate meaningful friendships, it takes a long time. That is why I am staying for another semester.

How is your program (Environmental Engineering in Germany) different from UCU’s Environmental Science?
The difference is that in Germany, the Environmental Engineering Program focuses more on renewable energy, high technical stuff and sanitation. Because in Uganda there is more need for environmental sanitation, in UCU’s program, there is more focus on sanitation, water treatment, and waste management. I noticed that one problem, which also is discussed in lectures here at UCU, is that Mukono as a city struggles with waste and water channel management. When it rains, water channels are filled with trash and plastics, which creates health problems. For example, when the rain water is not able to move, it becomes breeding grounds for mosquitos, and people get exposed to malaria-carrying mosquitos and so forth. The general similarity between Germany and Uganda is identifying, studying and solving environmental problems.

What about the difference in class sizes and the teaching methods?
Class Sizes: Here at UCU, I am having many classes on water and sanitation, and in class we are 10 students. In my university, within my class, we are 25. My university has around 6,100 students, and my faculty has 790 students (all engineering). One huge difference is that Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig) offers a combination of practically oriented teaching and application-oriented research. Our regionally unique selling point is the wide range of engineering programmes. Together with the areas of economics and cultural studies, we offer a wide variety of degree programmes and research opportunities at seven faculties. In general, my university is relatively a small university within Germany.
Method of Teaching: My classes here are very dialogue-based compared to German classes where the lecturer comes, summarizes his/her materials and then leaves the class. I would say that there are challenges to each method. The main challenge with dialogue-based classes are that they can be a little bit distracting especially when everyone wants to discuss, (students) can get off topic, and the lecturer has to collect everyone and bring them back to the original topic. On the other hand, in my classes in Germany, the main point is to make a class more efficient, the challenge being that lecturer may give you a bunch of materials, in the shortest time possible,  but with little time to process and engage with material.

What classes have stood out for you here at UCU?
Water, waste management and sanitation. It was really interesting to learn about basic things such constructing a pit latrine, or identifying and protecting water sources/tables. All of these are related to daily human needs we take for granted back home.

What do you think is the most positive aspect of studying at UCU?
UCU is an international university, attracting students across Africa, North America and Europe. It has good international community that supports international students. The university is used to the process of having international students. I find that special and rich in a way that I am not only building relationships with Ugandan students, but also with other international students. For example, everyday I meet students from the central African Republic, Burundi, Nigeria, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, etc. I find that really interesting. I don’t know where I could have had the opportunity to meet so many people in a formal context with different cultural backgrounds and experiences.

Other aspects?
The UCU campus, the way it is organized. It is really beautiful. Everywhere you look, it is really clean, and it looks like they put in a lot of work and care to make it look nice. I find it interesting  that the university has an actual campus. I say that because at my home university, there are just several buildings in the middle of town, no place to hangout, no campus. Just imagine a university in the middle of Kampala.

UCU is a Christian university and your university back home is not. How has that impacted your study abroad experience/process?
I have learned that undergraduate students study courses outside of their specializations including the New and Old Testaments, Worldviews, Health and Wholeness, and Understanding Christian Ethics. In Germany, our program is very scientific and when you are studying mechanical engineering, it is very rare to combine science and Christianity. Here, everything is linked to the Christian identity. Students have community worship, there are street preachers, and the main campus has a church. That has been biggest difference and observation for me. I can’t speak for all universities in Germany but my university is not related to any religion.

What observations have you made on socio-cultural differences between Uganda and Germany?
In Uganda people seem to be relaxed and you can have small talks with literally everyone on the street, in the supermarket, in the food line at the dining hall, etc. But in Germany, people seem to be busy all the time. You wouldn’t just talk to everyone you do not know, especially when you are in small town in a village people would look at like, “what are you doing?”

I grew up in small village, and people there they know each other, but if someone came out of town and started greeting everyone, people would strangely look at that person. In Uganda, it is the opposite, people are always curious, asking questions and are welcoming. I think that is the biggest difference. And the common thing we all have is that people genuinely care about family and friends.

Would you recommend UCU to students from your home university?
I would definitely recommend it. I would tell them to think about studying at UCU. Since it is a Christian university, they need to be flexible to adhere to the rules such as the campus curfew, no alcohol, smoking in public, etc. But it is really a great university and that’s why I decided to stay for another semester.

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For more of these stories and experiences, visit https://www.ugandapartners.org.  If you would like to assist a current UCU student or otherwise support the university, contact Mark Bartels, Executive Director, UCU Partners, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org or go to https://www.ugandapartners.org/donate/
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UCU Partners scholarship awardee straddles aspirations in science and business

Scholarship, Science and Technology, , , , ,


By Patty Huston-Holm

On paper, Matende Wilson Paul is a Uganda Christian University (UCU) business student. He has a diploma and is working on a bachelor’s degree.

In his head, “I’m a scientist,” he said. In between studies, Wilson Paul, as he prefers to be called, teaches chemistry at his alma mater, Vision High School, Nakifuma (Mukono District).

It’s a strange combination – one that he admits with uncertainty about where it will take him. For now, however, he has written a chemistry book (the science part) and is selling it (the business part). It’s called “D1-I Must Pass Chemistry.” (The D1 is a protein with many functions and interactions.) His book has been reviewed and verified as accurate and valuable by academic teachers of science and chemistry. As of autumn 2018, he sold 70 copies at 15,000 shillings ($4) each.

“I don’t care about making money,” Wilson Paul, age 22, said. “I just want to help students get through chemistry easier than I did.”

In truth, chemistry came easy for Wilson Paul despite no chemistry teacher or class when he was at Vision High School. He and eight classmates formed a class. They studied without books and lab equipment. Despite their passion and learning, they knew the lack of a formally approved curriculum and deficient experimentation tools would cripple them when applying for entrance into related university programs.

“I have no paper to say what I know,” he said.

And like many students, funding to continue education was a barrier. Born to teenage parents who eventually separated, Wilson Paul was raised by his grandmother, going to primary school behind Mukono’s Colline Hotel.

He “felt like a failure” until he met Mary Chowenhill, a Florida resident living and teaching entrepreneurship at UCU. Together, they started teaching Sunday School in 2013, including one trip to western Uganda’s Masindi village to guide 400 children. They lost touch. Then, two years ago, they reunited with Mary’s proposal that Wilson Paul study business at her sponsorship. It happened through UCU Partners.

“It was like bringing me back from the dead,” Wilson Paul said. “I can’t tell her how much that meant to me or how much she means to me now.”

While Wilson Paul is uncertain about his future after finishing at UCU, he knows he will have one foot in science and one in business.

“I want to do both,” he said. “Mary reminds me that God has a purpose for everything and everybody, including me. I’ll keep searching.”

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If you are interested in supporting students who are making a difference in the communities around Uganda such as UCU Partners Scholarship Recipient Wilson Paul is, contact Uganda Partners’ Director @mtbartels@gmail.com or click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner of this page.

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University’s First Engineering Guild President Promotes Science, Math and Technology

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Bruce Mugisha Amanya (in tie) during final hours of Guild President Campaign (UCU Partners photo)

BY DOUGLAS OLUM
Following a hectic week of speeches, music, riding in poster-plastered cars and on the shoulders of guys wearing his picture on their T-shirts, Uganda Christian University engineering student Bruce Mugisha Amanya emerged as the Main (Mukono) campus 2018-2019 Guild President.

Amanya’s 1,000 supporting votes edged him ahead of two rivals, making history as he became the first engineering student to obtain the student body leadership spot in the university’s 21-year existence. Amanya, in his third year pursuing a Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering degree, isonly the second guild president from the university’s Faculty of Science and Technology.  An Information Technology student was chosen in 2005.

The day after his late-night Nov. 2 victory, Amanya reflected on his background, his reason for running and his goals for the next year. Among questions during the campaign was how an engineering-type person – someone known for inventing and innovating – would manage leadership.

“The fact that I am a scientist, very many people, which is quite unfortunate, do not see me as a leader,” he said. “They think I can probably play better with mathematics and numbers, than with dialogue and advocacy. But it is very difficult for an engineer to succeed if he is not a leader. We experience leadership directly in the field – managing people, time, equipment or money.”

According to Amanya, engineers have resource management and problem-solving skills. He referred to building structures such as roads and bridges as work where engineers are “co-creators with God.”

While representing all students, Amanya plans to further disprove the common misconception that scientists could not make good leaders by helping to market science courses and build a wider and more engaged Science and Technology alumni base. He wants to make the public aware that UCU is more than the “law school.”

“I had my internship at the Parliament of Uganda,” he recalled. “The very day I reported, I met the Sergeant at Arms and he asked me: What is your name? I told him my name. He asked where I was from. I told him UCU. Immediately he asked me, ‘Are you a law student?’” When Amanya clarified that he was enrolled in civil engineering, the official was surprised that such a program existed.

“Those questions triggered something in me,” he said. “We are right in the city centre but people do not know that we offer engineering courses. I want to resolve that through my leadership.”

Over the next 12 months, Amanya said he plans to lobby for more funding towards science students’ projects from the university, advocate for incorporation of some essential courses not yet being taught by the faculty, ensure that specialist supervisors are brought on board to guide students’ innovative projects, set up an innovation week, cut guild expenditures on trips to support students and form a students tribunal comprised of class representatives to scrutinize guild budget and ensure total accountability and transparency.

“We need to market ourselves. But we cannot market ourselves when we don’t graduate our students. Last year, almost half the total number of finalist students of engineering did not graduate because they did not have anyone to supervise their final-year projects,” Amanya noted.

“I want to see our alumni take on projects within the university as a way of giving back. The university needs to prioritize them after graduating them. That is how we can also advertise them, using what they have done,” Amanya said.

Sitting at a table and near an older brother, Ayesigye Brian Mugisha (he arrived to congratulate), the new guild president concluded with a story of a young man selling mangoes. The story is about a youth advertising his product by shouting.

“People were not buying until he reached an old woman,” Amanya said. “She told him that people are not buying your mangoes because you are not giving them the reason to buy. Sit down, pick a mango, cut and begin eating. People will come and ask you how sweet the mangoes are, then you will ask them: Do you want one? Bring money, and they will buy. That way, the boy managed to sell all his mangoes.”

New guild president, seated, with his brother who traveled to Mukono to issue congratulations (UCU Partners photo)

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If you are interested in supporting UCU programs like those in science and engineering, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners’ Executive Director, at  mtbartels@gmail.com. Also follow our Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin pages.

UCU Covers Ground in Science Education Thanks to Uganda Partner’s Equipment

Science and Technology, , ,



Okot Francis, laboratory attendant, with liquid limit cone penetrator

By Alex Taremwa
Uganda Christian University (UCU) started out as a theological college. Slowly, the university transformed into one of the predominant arts and humanities’ institutions of higher learning in Uganda and produced the best lawyers, journalists, business leaders, teachers and social workers.

Over time, however, a vision was born to integrate the Christian spiritual values into sciences to better meet the needs of the country and as such, a Faculty of Science and Technology (FOST) was created with two departments – Civil and Environmental Engineering and Agriculture and Biological Sciences. These are housed in a new storied building in the Technology Park area of the UCU Mukono campus.

The need then was to build state-of-the-art laboratories and equip them to the standard that would allow students to create groundbreaking discoveries to improve the community, the graduates’ career opportunities and the university’s brand.

Making science real
Hellenah Dushime, a third-year student of Food Science and Technology says that ever since the Chemistry and Biology Labs were fitted with equipment from UCU Partners, her studies took a new twist.

“Before we were always told in theory what the equipment was and how it worked,” she said. “With the equipment, I can now do my practical assignments here and learn firsthand how things are done. This is what I call science. You can’t teach it like history.”

Her most used equipment are the deep freezer, where her samples are safely stored, and the analytical balance donated by contributors to UCU Partners.

Reaching beyond students
Okot Francis, the laboratory attendant since 2015, has noticed a great increase in the use of the equipment. He says that besides the students who are now a permanent fixture in the labs, the external community users such as researchers doing independent experiments have expressed interest in using the laboratories.

He believes if the university could secure accreditation for the labs from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) certifying that they were of great standard and quality, the equipment could earn the university money that would in turn help in purchase of laboratory supplies, paying for routine servicing among others.

“I can comfortably say that UCU Partners has given our department a huge boost,” he says. “If you look at what the students have been able to do practically, you see great value. Some are already making bread jam, mayonnaise, waste purification; it is simply amazing.”

Okot says student instruction has significantly improved and so have skills and application to the local community. The university has made it mandatory for students to use their class groups (four students) to work on a project that solves a problem in the local village of Mukono.

“They have done water harvesting – a model that the university is currently using – waste management, crop clinics among other projects,” he says. “And even as they graduate, we are more certain of sending out all around graduates with great skills to create jobs.”

Equipment peaking interest
The relevance to learning and real-world application that the new equipment provides has not only increased enrollment in science programs but has enhanced partnerships with humanitarian organizations. World Vision, for example, uses the equipment to test the quality of water in boreholes and streams in the communities.

A student model demonstrating proper land use at home for gardening and rain water harvesting for rural homes

Going forward, Okot says the science laboratories will be further divided off so students can have dedicated spaces to work under controlled environments for better results.

“We shall partition the labs so that students in dairy production, micro-biology, and biotechnology can have more dedicated spaces to work with the equipment best suited for them. This also will improve the safety of the equipment,” he adds.

Rodgers Tayebwa, a lecturer in the Civil Engineering department says that his students have been more involved since they received the turbidimeter –equipment for measuring the cloudiness of water.

His students use the new liquid cone penetrators to determine the moisture content at which clay soils pass from a plastic to liquid state and to determine the undrained shear strength necessary for the longevity of civil structures such as roads, bridges and buildings.

In the laboratory, you can see the toil of students. The specimens are carefully placed in the room temperature spaces, some still under study labeled with tags “Do not touch,” and others already out being recorded.

Students at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels use the four laboratories. Tayebwa notes that strict standard operating procedures for equipment use were designed to ensure safety of both the students and the equipment.

Rodgers Tayebwa, UCU Civil Engineering lecturer, with new portable equipment

Portable laboratory
“This equipment is expensive. We can’t just let it be used without precaution. It is basically a portable laboratory that a student carries to the field and does the tests on the spot,” he explains.

Like Okot, he acknowledges that the faculty still needs more equipment especially for new courses such as Food Science and Technology, Nutrition and Dairy Technology. There is hope and prayer that this, too, will be forthcoming.

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For more information about how you can help support equipment to make a difference in UCU education, contact Mark Bartels, UCU Partners executive director, at mtbartels@gmail.com.

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