DR Congo seeks collaboration with Ugandan Universities

EDUCATION

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is seeking to partner with Ugandan Universities to enhance institutional collaboration, research and ease admission of Congolese students in the university.

In a meeting held at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono on Wednesday, Timothee Lemba Munga, the administrative secretary at the DRC embassy in Kampala said his country was ready to partner with Ugandan universities.

Munga said the conflict in the eastern DRC is still raging on forcing the country to seek partnership in education with Uganda.  But he expressed concern that many Congolese are not allowed to study in Ugandan universities because of the differences in the education systems in the two countries.

He also noted that Congo has a deficit of technical staff and that they are looking at students trained in Uganda to fill the gap.

UCU Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Senyonyi said there're already 40 Congolese students pursuing various courses at the university and that the Church founded institution is ready to admit even more.

"We have not closed our doors, being a Christian founded and private university, it has a little different tradition of admission, whether there is an agreement with the government or not," Senyonyi said.

He added that UCU would not mind admitting more Congolese students as long as their academic documents have been equated by UNEB to the Ugandan standards. "As a Christian university, it's our mission to reach out to as many people as possible," Senyonyi said.