By Carol Ariba
It is hard to miss it, even if you tried. Located in Wandegeya, YMCA, has quite a presence. It, therefore, does not come as a surprise that the institution has taken strides. Beyond diploma and certificate awarding, they recently announced their newly acquired degree awarding status. And that is not all; they also have a new home that should accommodate this new addition.
YMCA started to give people a chance at hands-on skills in 1986. It has since continued to educate people for both national This August YMCA will open its doors to students for degree courses. All pictures by Tony Rujutaand regional development in a wide range of courses. This could start with vocational and technical skills, with emphasis on skills that were on demand in society. It is this passion and realistic training that saw YMCA accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Uganda, as a degree awarding institution.
This August, YMCA will open its doors to students for degree courses. YMCA’s director, Herbert Mukasa says aside from the need to fill the gap, the degree programme can be traced to the Government’s efforts in democratising education. He insists that although the number of universities have grown tremendously, admission figures show that the qualifying A’ level leavers are still high versus those admitted by the universities. Most qualifying A’ level leavers are left out from pursuing a degree programme, and eventually join tertiary institutions at diploma level though they have adequate points to qualify them for a degree.
This, the institution’s director believes requires provision of continuous and lifelong education. In the recent years, it has become increasingly important for trainers in tertiary institutions to aim at higher education. But it can all be attributed to the growth and increase in both the numbers and quality of students that has generated a demand for higher education by the society.
Thus the institute’s desire to train the required human resource to the vital vocational degree level. Therefore, YMCA found that there was need to fulfil the demand for the concurrent needs of both the clientele and society at large and bridge the gap with the new degree programme. It is on this note, therefore, that YMCA; a comprehensive institute chose to diversify its programmes. This was mostly to ensure the provision of continuing education at higher levels to meet the changing values and skills in vocational specialty. In this regard, the management of the institute formalised all the requirements as requested by NCHE. Last year, in December, the institute was cleared to start the following degree programmes.
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