By Kefa Senoga
The Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University (UCU), Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, has been elected to the board of the Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU), a global alliance of institutions of higher learning. The election took place during an HLU board meeting, which was part of the activities of the third annual Hanseatic League of Universities Conference held at the Florida Gulf Coast University, Southwest Florida, U.S. from May 15-17.
The election of Mushengyezi, who has previously served on advisory boards of many other organisations, saw UCU join Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam as the second African institution on the board of the five-year-old association of universities.
UCU is one of the founding universities of HLU. This association seeks innovation in research and education under a shared mission of working together to address the real impact of higher education on societies and industries worldwide.
HLU started in April 2018 at the initiative of Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and has 10 universities on its board, including UCU and the University of Dar es Salaam from Africa. America is represented by Northern Arizona University. From Europe, five universities sit on the board – Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Bremen University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland), UC Leuven-Limburg (Belgium) and the Belgorod State National Research University of Russia. Representing Asia are North Korea’s Incheon National University and the Beijing Technology and Business University from China.
The conference, which focused on communication, collaboration and learning from leaders, educators, and pioneers in higher education around the world, brought together different heads, rectors and vice chancellors of institutions of higher learning to reflect on the emerging issues, and discuss how to mitigate or solve their effects.
Under the conference theme of Vectors of Resilience, the meeting discussed how institutions of higher learning around the world responded to the unexpected challenges faced over the last few years, especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The HLU also has established a new ranking system for its member universities, which is meant to evaluate the contribution of higher education institutions to society, highlighting creative and innovative approaches to research and educational programs. This year, more than 300 universities worldwide are participating in the World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI) ranking, with more than 1,100 innovative programs.
The WURI ranking focuses on industrial application, value-creating, social responsibility, ethics and integrity, student mobility and openness, crisis management and progress during the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Before the conference, Mushengyezi visited Pepperdine University in Malabo, California, from May 10-13, at the invitation of the institution’s President, Jim Gash. Pepperdine is seeking to strengthen ties with UCU in student and staff exchange programs, as well as practical training of law students in Uganda.
UCU management has taken efforts to widen doors to both local and international partnerships with universities all over the world for the benefit of students, staff, researchers and other stakeholders. One notable such partnership is with the US-based Council for Christian Colleges, which facilitates UCU’s Uganda Studies Program by providing annual study-abroad opportunities for students from various U.S-based colleges. Through classes, internships and living with Ugandan families or peers, the Uganda Studies Program provides opportunities for students to engage people, culture and contemporary realities in Uganda in ways that challenge them to actively participate in Christ’s claim on all aspects of life.
Mushengyezi’s May trip to western and southeastern parts of the USA follows another one in February this year, where he travelled to other states in the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast regions of the country. On the February trip, he held meetings with representatives of various educational institutions to strengthen collaborative academic and research partnerships.
