Victoria University has on Friday morning held its second graduation ceremony with twenty three graduands awared degrees and diplomas.
Hosted at Kabira Country Club, the event was presided over by the university chancellor Dr Martin Aliker, who urged the graduands to strive towards achieving success as well as using the knowledge imparted to them to add value to society.
“As you go out into the society, be a good role model to others. Our country is experiencing an unprecedented decline in moral behavior,” Dr. Aliker told the anxious graduands, adding: “Add value to society by showing compassion to the vulnerable and less privileged and use your knowledge to connect as human beings.”
This year, 21 degrees were awarded in the disciplines of nursing science, midwifery, public health, information systems, computer science, I.T, business administration as well as banking and finance. In addition, two graduands got Diplomas in social work and business information systems. Fifteen of this year’s graduands are female while eight (8) are male.
In his address the Acting Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, Joseph Nyakaana highlighted the strides made by the institution in the last four years including the multiple number of programmes that have been introduced.
“When new management took over in 2013, it had four faculties and less than five programmes with only 27 students. But we believed in providing high standards despite the rather prohibitive demands for running a private university in Uganda,” Dr. Nyakaana said.
Currently, Victoria University runs over 30 programs, with 199 students 97 of which are foreign nationals.
In addition to the 23 who received Degrees and Diplomas on Friday, the Vice Chancellor said the university has churned out about 150 more students on short certificate courses mainly in Oil and Gas.
Rajiv Ruparelia, the Director Ruparelia Group of Companies and one of the promoters of the university, said graduate students are a key result area to any institution of learning.
“More important, however, is the value addition and productivity that these graduates will carry along with them into the job market,” Rajiv noted.
“We have invested heavily in the best facilities and believe that we have made our students different and competitive in the world of work. Through partnerships with companies like Google, Vodafone and Kabero Foundation, students have been equipped with a range of skills,” he added.
