Students advised to utilize their stay at the University

EDUCATION 

MPIGI - Students aspiring to join the university have been asked to make optimal use of the time they will spend at their prospective university.

The advice was given by the Vice-Chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), Rev. Prof. John Chrysostom Maviiri, during the national pre-university career-guidance camp at the university's main campus at Nkozi, in Mpigi district.

Prof. Maviiri gives a certificate to one of the students who participated in the camp

 
The camp, which was organised by the university's alumni and management, attracted students from various schools across the country.

Prof. Maviiri said that the transition of students from secondary school to university was a challenging dispensation which called for the strategic preparation of the students to take full advantage of their stay at the university.

 
"Life at the university is very different from life at secondary school. There is no time-keeper. Nobody is going to manage you. Every student is his or her own manager. This excessive freedom causes many students to lose focus. They consequently waste time and make wrong choices.

"We opted to introduce the pre-university camp to prepare our young people, who are going to university. We want to give them the empowerment to manage themselves properly, and also know what they want to be and where they want to go. The ultimate intention of the camp is to build the capacity of students, who intend to join the university."

Some of the students who attended the maiden national pre-university career-guidance camp

 
Alumnus Ambrose Mukiibi, a consultant in education and career guidance who facilitated the camp, asked students not to limit themselves to the course they study. He encouraged them to attend all workshops and seminars that are brought to the school, in order to become multi-skilled.

"In order to make a meaningful contribution to the crusade against unemployment, we must help our students to change their minds.  The young people, who are the major victims of employment, must be the primary champions of the crusade against joblessness. They must be helped to realise that they are the primary agents of change. Now is the time to change. The change we desire must start from within us. We must grow inside, up and outside."

The camp ran under the theme: My Journey to University.