About 10 years ago, immediately after High School, I was fortunate to secure an opportunity to Join one of East Africa's best Christian University in Uganda, Uganda Christian University (Mukono University) for a Law Degree. Never mind, I am MBA, BCOM and CHRP-K holder and Not LLM, LLB and or admission to the bar. Reasons? We all undergo very difficult experiences in our lifetime, experiences that change the course of your life; experiences that can break or make you. God willing, I will one day write and share why I am not in my childhood dream field of Law, and how I found myself in the Commerce field, specifically in the Human Resources World and why I never question any happening in my life. Before then, let us look at my first day at UCU ...
My first walk into UCU as its prominently known was great and a moment never to forget. Look, this was my first time out of the country, this was the first time I was going to be independent so this was an exciting yet freaking experience that I was about to undergo.
I was received by ushers who were assigned to aid us in registration and clearance. At the registration desk were hundreds of other students, so I joined the queue that had the International students section, here we had students from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Nigeria etc., wow, this was going to be a very great experience I said to myself.
Allow me to digress just a little bit and be a man. My time in the queue was spent wondering how a single place could have so many beautiful ladies. Rwandese ladies were the real deal, tall, white teeth, round eyes, very cute smile and natural beauty, no add-ons, eti sijui Brazilian hair. Then we had the Banyankole ladies from Uganda, 'Oh my wa Mae' these beauty queens, all with first lady Janet Museveni's haircut style were also part of the confusion, then came the hot Burundians, very difficult to differentiate them from the Rwandese, they were very cute, I liked their accent and their flawless beauty, good people, clearly, my stay in Uganda was going to be very adventurous.
Okay, don't ask me about men from those countries because by now, I was already in a serious discussion with this cutie from Rwanda who was ahead of me in the queue, she had a ponytail and a very infectious smile, "Kizungu mingi" about Kigali and how she longed to visit Kenya, as she talked, my duty was just to stare at her beauty, and like the gentleman I am, node my head in agreement, with occasional chip-ins. Good people, these ladies were also very friendly, Uganda kungekalika kweli? - Let's talk about this adventure, or did it even happen (?) later.
Okay, don't ask me about men from those countries because by now, I was already in a serious discussion with this cutie from Rwanda who was ahead of me in the queue, she had a ponytail and a very infectious smile, "Kizungu mingi" about Kigali and how she longed to visit Kenya, as she talked, my duty was just to stare at her beauty, and like the gentleman I am, node my head in agreement, with occasional chip-ins. Good people, these ladies were also very friendly, Uganda kungekalika kweli? - Let's talk about this adventure, or did it even happen (?) later.
Was my stay adventurous? I will talk about this later, but so that you know, during registration, I met some cute gal (Can't remember her name) who gave me a handbill that was indicated "Touch Life Ministry" a very powerful Christian Group of young Christian Comrades that sought to demystify the fallacy of "Being Saved in College is Boring" after a few follow-ups within the first week by her, I joined the team, and before I knew it, I was on road for Gospel Campus Nights to different Universities especial MUKS, MUBS, and Kyambogo.
Before I knew it, together with Touch Life Ministry (TLM) members, We were on road trip retreats, one memorable one being the weekend out titled "Gerenge Retreat" in Entebbe, in some forests (I guess, it was Zika Forests) where we spent time collecting firewood, cooking, singing, sharing the word, holding night vigil etc., Yes, clearly God had other plans, never got to become adventurous. Hoping to write more about my stay in Uganda.
Back to Business - The Honors College at UCU
My stay in Uganda, especially at UCU, taught me a lot of things and opened my eyes to great educational programs. You see, UCU an Anglican University was led by a Christian Vice Chancellor, Rev Prof. Stephen Noll, one great man, whom I had an opportunity to have a word with, in his office located at the chapel (For those who know). Prof. Noll was a white man who had, by all means, endeavored to ensure the students who had thirst for knowledge also got an opportunity to hear the word and fellowship, he sought to have sustenance of Christian Faith in One's Career. So he ensured we had morning glories, Lunch hours and sometimes evening prayers at the famous Nkoyoyo Hall.
It is through the stewardship of Rev. Noll, I believe, Uganda Christian University introduced what is (was) called HONORS COLLEGE. An idea, that I believe was great and could be very effective if Kenyan Universities implemented it (If they have not done so). Honors College, was a "College within a College" a leadership program that sought to produce skilled leaders across all academic programs; More like Management Trainee Programs or Young Professional Program that different organization invests in, before employing you.
Honors College as I came to learn, provided the students who had very high academic abilities with resources that would prepare them for post-college life, it was also a strategy to inculcate Christian values through education. Those who joined Honors College, for instance always had 2-3 extra units added to their normal course units, had extra tutorial fellows, had their own well-equipped library and Halls of residence. Once you joined the program, you forgot about School fee cause it was waived and your work remained to study and become skillful and useful to the society.
Most of these fellows, ended up joining postgraduate programs as some of them were poached by employers who were convinced that the Leadership Program at UCU was all they needed to get best employees.
Years later, of course after spending time in the Human Resources Field - My eyes are open, the Honors College at UCU should be every serious student's dream, I say, serious student, because, once, at Honors College, you are forced to cut your social hyper life and focus more on books and other extra curriculum programs at the college.
Trust you me, if you engage anyone who has been through such leadership program, they are ahead of the game, very disciplined, respectful, professional, great thinkers who are always solution oriented. These are the people you would always want on your team, very supportive fellows with great leadership skills.
What if Kenyan Universities came up with such Leadership Programs? Where the creme de la creme is enrolled and released to the society to add value and make the society better.
One challenge with such programs is, it creates anti-social geeks who can not socialize with you beyond their areas of expertize. They are basically better off being themselves in their own world. Great leaders with no social life.
Another challenge, the program is often viewed as being discriminative because the students at the college, lead a totally different life compared to the rest of the students on the normal program. My argument on this area has always been, if the requirements for the program are fair and you fail to qualify, then clearly you could be useful elsewhere and that shouldn't be the end of the road for you or reason enough to argue against such programs.
I am also convinced that, if Universities invested in Honors Colleges, employers will no longer need to invest extensively in leadership programs that will produce skilled manpower that will often leave the organization once they discover their worth and feel the environment is no longer favorable to them.
All in all, an Honors College - Leadership Program is great educational Program that I would support any day any time. I have also come to learn why, Universities outside Kenya, especially those headed by educationists manage to beat Kenyan universities in terms of productive graduates. Such universities have leadership programs that equip the learners with additional career life skills that are of great value such as discipline, critical thinking, teamwork, and objectivity.
UCU also had so many skill-based practical programs and resource centers, that sought to recognize, nurture talent and released a complete graduate to the market. One such program was a tech park resource center for IT-related courses and Mass Communication student's Spirit FM. Imagine studying IT and you already have a Tech park for your day to day practice? Imagine studying Mass Communication with an access to a fully equipped studio and an opportunity to present on a radio, go for field work, cover live events for both print and media?
Imagine studying law and you have a well equipped Law Library specifically for your course with very active moot courts complete with organized competition and tutor support. Now imagine you are a talented sportsman, competing in your favorite squad without having to worry about high tuition fees for your educational program? - UCU Canon's Basketball team that had an almost an all Kenyan squad is such an example.
Imagine coming from a humble background, you are not able to pay your tuition fees, so the university enrolls you in a work-study program where your remuneration goes to your tuition fee? That was UCU for you during the period I was there, definitely, a lot could have changed in a span of 10 years, for instance, the launch of one of East Africa's largest and well equipped Hamu Mukasa Library.
Do we have Honors College or any similar leadership programs in Kenyan Universities? Is this an area as a country we can invest in? Are these programs to be benchmarked by different Educational Institutions in Kenya?
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