Victoria University to offer degree in midwifery

By Umaru Kashaka and Noah Jagwe

Business mogul Sudhir Ruparelia’s Victoria University is set to offer a degree in Bachelor of Midwifery come January next year, the new-Vice Chancellor Dr. Stephen Isabalija has said.

Addressing journalists at the Jinja Road-based university in Kampala early this week, Isabalija said the new program will come in handy as the country tries to grapple with the shortage of doctors and midwives to prevent the soaring maternal deaths.

“We believe we should change the trend of nursing and midwifery in this country. We want to ensure that students gain valuable knowledge and specialist skills which are current, relevant, marketable and responsive to community health care needs now and in the future,” he said.

He noted that the university’s backbone is solid, as it is backed by the Ruparelia Group which is notable in the education sector in Uganda and has under its portfolio the renowned Kampala International School Uganda and Kampala Parents' School.

Sudhir said he has so far spent about $1m (about sh2.5b) on the institution and plans to invest about $10m (about sh26bn) in next few years to give the university a new strong identity.

As one of Uganda’s newest universities, Victoria University-Uganda was established in 2011 by Edulink Holdings Limited, a private company that invests internationally in institutions of higher education.

The university was initially affiliated with the University of Buckingham (UB), UK which awards the majority of degrees offered at Victoria. However, it had two other courses independent of UB.
    
Victoria was collaborating for over a year, with majority of its students offering UB courses.