Garden of Eden

Well there is progress being made at St. Ignatius! There has been an increase of inquiry of programs being offered and a good demand for Education pathways. We are diligently working on the development of the curriculum and seeking potential instructors for the next academic year for this new department. In addition, the university acquired additional land that was donated by the Diocese to expand the agriculture and tourism programs. On the land is a small structure that will be renovated to hold agriculture labs and supplemental student housing.

Here are some pictures of the additional land which lies about 15-minute walk away from the main campus.

During the week we are busy working to make sustainable change in Kabale and during the weekend I explore the beauty of Uganda and learn about agriculture and farming.

During this weekend, I visited Fr. Paulino Fokushaba home which lies in the Ruhija Forest, which is near the Impenetrable Forest of Uganda. You will see a couple of pictures of his home, pictures of monkeys as we drive through the Impenetrable Forest, and the villages during the drive.

 

During this weekend, I also visited Fr. Maximiano Ngabirano home in the village of Nyamasizi. His home contains a tea farm. I had the pleasure to touch his cows and sheep. Unfortunately, the goats were too afraid to let me near them. Maybe next time, I will learn to milk a cow. 

 

Uganda is a garden of Eden. It is rich in natural resources and needs assistance in developing their nation to become producers to build and increase their exports in order to provide opportunities and employment for the young.

Primary Education Curriculum

Wow! These past two months have flown by and so much has occurred. I have faced adversity, embraced the community experience, and learned much of the Ugandan way.

During these two months, we have made progress on the Primary Education curriculum for the Diploma and Bachelor's track programmes. The national policy is guiding the revamping of higher education institutional programs to embrace innovative measures and concepts in order to prepare current and aspiring teachers in K-12 education with improved professional practices to deliver high quality K-12 programmes. The current primary and secondary schools need to improve in order to inspire students to become more innovative thinkers and develop critical thinking skills for an improved country.

The progress that we are making on the completion of the curriculum will lead to the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) accreditation of these two programs at St. Ignatius University - Kabale. The desired submission date will be June 2024 with the hopes that accreditation will be received in order to accept applications in the Fall.  Then we will begin working on completing the Secondary Education curriculum for Bachelor of Arts and Science to be submitted for accreditation in the Fall.

I look forward to the acceptance of students into these programs as the demand does exist for St. Ignatius University - Kabale to implement the School of Education.

I will keep you informed of the NCHE accreditation process.