Youth urged to create jobs through research

The vice chancellor of Bugema University Prof. Patrick Manu has urged university graduates to use their expertise in research to drive entrepreneurial growth to create employment for themselves and others.

He said the training of students to automatically enter the world of work, once they acquired qualification, which did not specify their competencies and skills had become obsolete.

"Industrial research and food technology were tools capable of creating employment to jobless graduates and the likes," Manu said.

According to him, the institute's training programmes are unique and capable of generating employment opportunities for Ugandans.

"At the moment, Bugema University has over 25 research products waiting to be utilized and this is a better platform for youths to embrace research to create jobs" he explained.

Manu made the call during the launch of the Bugema University journalism and media platform at the university main campus in Luwero on Tuesday.

He said graduates must rather come out of school with innovative skills that places emphasis on creative, critical and inventive skills.

The students of mass communication and journalism thrilled the vice chancellor and the audience with a number of entertainment products that included music, dance and drama among others.  

Joshua Busulwa the head of the department appealed to the university for increased funding to attract more students to pursue the course.

"The department is faced with a number of challenges but the most notable one is the shortage of funding that deters us from acquiring modern equipment in the training of our students," he explained.

Busulwa advised the students to uphold Christian values, as a faith-based institution.

The chancellor Pr. Daniel Matte said the educational institution was working feverishly to expand its academic programme, and to establish more schools.

He announced that the university college has received accreditation, to pursue Animal Science and Fisheries and Environmental Science courses.

Matte reiterated the need for the students to trust and believe in God as "you set out on this journey. Life will be challenging, at times confusing. But you will need a sound head. Face it with respect and confidence."

Bugema University is located on a 640-acre piece of land in Luwero district, Bamunanika County, Kalagala sub-county. The institution started in 1948 as a training school for teachers and pastors for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in East Africa.

By then it was called Bugema Missionary Training School. Later, the name changed to Bugema Missionary College and then to Bugema Adventist College.  In 1978, Bugema Adventist College graduated its first degree class with Bachelor of Theology. The College expanded and by the late 1980s curricula for Business and Education were put in place.

Profile of Bugema University

Bugema is a fully chartered seventh day Adventist higher institution of learning.  It is also fully accredited as a university by the Adventist Accrediting Association based in Maryland, USA.

Started in 1994 as Bugema Adventist College changed its status from college to university, and in 1997, Bugema University was granted a license from the Ministry of Education and Sports to operate as a university.

The university offers Bachelors of Theology, BBA in Management and Accounting, and BA in Education with History, Religion, English and Literature as teaching subjects. Social Science, Health and Natural Sciences and Graduate Studies which offers the post graduate programs.

The institution boasts of a population of 4417 students at the Main Campus and branches that include Kampala, Arua, Kasese, Mbale and Elgon View College.​