109 students graduate from UMI Gulu branch

Gulu - 109 students of Uganda management institute (UMI) Gulu branch has graduated in the 14th graduation ceremony.

The graduation took place on Friday, April 29, 2016 at St. Monica Girls' tailoring school where 20 students graduated in post graduate diplomas in public administration and management and 33 students graduated in financial management and budget, 17 in human resource management while 39 students graduated in project planning and management.

Gulu district chairman, Ojara Martin Mapenduzi appealed to UMI to introduce short courses that lower local councilors can pursue to enhance their knowledge

Ojara who was speaking on behalf of the minister for disaster preparedness and minister of education for higher learning says studying those courses will consequently enable councilors improve service delivery to their electorate

Gerard Namirembe Bitamazire, the UMI chancellor also calls upon government and agencies plus the corporations to sponsors their executives and employees for hard and soft skills training.

"There is rising demand for better services to meet the daily needs of the people and to solve society's growing problems which call for innovativeness, efficiency and creativity on the part of service providers including managers, administrators and leaders," Bitamazire added.

Bitamazire said today we live in an age of increasing and burning anxiety where there are too many needs to meet and too many goals to achieve both personal and society levels.

She added that due to rapid development in many sectors of society and the economy, the young generation is growing more anxious about the present and future condition of their lives than their parents are; saying this state of affairs has far reaching implications on planning, management and service delivery.

Bitamazire noted that challenges of improvement and enhancement of service delivery is an opportunity for scholars, professionals and researchers in management, leadership and administration disciplines to play their role innovatively and effectively to meet expectation by government and the general public.

She calls graduands to stand firm and be counted in defense of the principles and values of professional management, public administration and leadership.

Bitamazire said " we does not only empower participants to excel at their work stations, but they also acquire soft skills which is becoming increasingly critical in solving daily challenges through behavioral changes at personal and community levels".

She added that the institute's interactive approach creates and build not only professional, but personal and interpersonal skills among the participants.

The director general UMI, Dr. James L. Nkata said the graduands that passed the postgraduate programs with lower class and above will be given provisional admissions for masters in management studies.

He added that Gulu branch is the first among their centers to get a permanent campus; saying they are constructing permanent home in Gulu where by the end of august this year, they will occupy as the result of relationship with the district administration.

Dr. Nkata said when the construction is complete; the center will grow its capacity to enviable levels in courses offered, consultancy and research.

"I encourage you to come back and use this center not just for qualification, but for policy research and management retreats. I would like to encourage our partners in the whole of northern region to particularly take interest in our masters of management studies. We are willing to conduct it at our centers if we have the right numbers enrolling for it," Nkata appeals.

Dr. Nkata added that "UMI Gulu center is strategically positioned to not only answer questions for Uganda, which we are proud to research into and provide answer too, but also to serve the larger region, South Sudan and DR Congo are our immediate neighbors".