Kampala International University, through Yunus and You Foundation has launched a one year project dubbed Yunus Social Business Centre that will help to address the challenges of entrepreneurship, research and innovations in the country.
The project seeks to aid students manage innovations and entrepreneurship initiatives through the use of Apps, robotic products, mentorship and nurtures with business ideas respectively.
Speaking at the launch of the project this morning, the KIU Vice Chancellor Prof. Mouhamad Mpezamihigo said the project aims at skilling all the students at the institution, emphasizing the fact that there is a high need for skills.
“The centre will allow all staff, and students to walk in and attain more knowledge about social business. Other students in other universities will at a later time be allowed to also come in and get trained at a no cost “prof Mpezamihigo added.
“Our strategy is in training students and giving them opportunities, to optimise their time when we still have them. We are introducing skills training, develop student’s confidence on how to attend interviews and customer relations, and how to deal with their own attitudes about life,” Dr. Mpezamihigo added
He noted that the social business centre established at the university will offer training and skilling to students and staff and equipping them with exposure and experiences on how they can establish their social businesses, get subsidies funding either as individuals or SACCOs.
This project will also look at school drop outs, it will include 5 universities, 5secondary schools and 5 CBOs (Community Based Organisations) from different regions that is the Central, Eastern, western and Northern region in the country who will receive adequate knowledge on financial literacy at a relatively smaller fee.
At least four districts have been selected to act as the focal points in all the regions. They include Kampala (central regio), Mbale (Eastern region), Gulu (Northern region) and Mbarara (western region). The university targets to get at least 1,000 beneficiaries for this project.
In addition, KIU has also launched a 50% bursary scheme on all its post graduate courses for both local and foreign students enrolling for further studies in Post Graduate Diploma and Doctors in Philosophy (PhD) programmes at all its campuses.
This according to the university has been done to enable students with financial constraints to enrol their studies after realizations that a large number of students have dropped out schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected global individual financial arrangements
It should be recalled that the National Council of Higher Eduacation – NCHE recently accredited new PhD programmes at KIU. They include PhD in medicine, PhD in statistics and economics, PhD in Pharmacy among others. This means that students willing to join this university for any of the programmes offered will benefit from the 50% tuition fee waiver starting this August intake.
The university says the offering bursaries will contribute to bridging the professional gaps that affects universities in Uganda
