Aga Khan University to expand programmes
The Aga Khan University grauduates jubilate at the 15 graduation ceremony held in Kampala yesterday. Photo by Rachel Mabala
KAMPALA. His Highness, Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini, the Aga Khan yesterday outlined his 15-year investment plan for the East Africa region where $1.1 billion (about Shs 3.2 trillion) will be injected in education and health sectors.
A portion of the monies amounting to $110 (about Shs312 billion) will be specifically for projects in Uganda. The two new teaching hospitals will be built, staffed by exceptional physicians and nurses and equipped with the latest technology. The other new teaching hospital, in addition to the one in Nairobi, will be established in Arusha.
The Aga Khan University will also increase the number of medical centres already established, as well as add an executive, professional and continuing education school in Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Aga Khan hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Kisumu and Mombasa will also become teaching hospitals for medical students.
Presiding over the 15th convocation ceremony in Kampala yesterday, The Aga Khan said the investment will enable the university introduce new campuses, expand its academic programmes and facilities so that it is be able to train more professionals who will create a multiplier effect in civil society .
“A healthy society is a meritocratic one, where ethics are honoured, and excellence is valued. And the great question now confronting us in Africa is how rapidly the institutions of a healthy society can be established and reinforced,” he said.
The Aga Khan, who is the university chancellor, said decades of experience in the developing world showed that sound society institutions such as AKU were key to Africa’s future.
Mr Al-Karim Haji, the university vice president, said they were working with government in identifying land where a teaching hospital will be built.
A graduate school of media and communications is yet to open in Nairobi, while others are in the pipeline, specifically designed to advance a healthy civil society.
Background
Founded in 1983, Aga Khan University specialises in the health and education fields. The university currently has programmes in eight countries spread over three continents. In East Africa, it offers advanced nursing studies supported by the 250-bed Aga Khan University teaching hospital in Nairobi.
Over the last 15 years, AKU has graduated 12,000 students including nearly 2,000 nurses and 3,000 teachers.
Over the last one year, it has trained 1,000 secondary school head teachers in Uganda.
