Aga Khan Varsity Sets Aside over $700m for New Campuses - آغا خان یونیورسٹی تنزانیہ میں نئی کمیپس کی تعمیر کے لئے 700 ملین ڈالر کی سرمایہ کاری کرے گا۔۔۔

The Aga Khan University plans to invest more than $700 million (over Sh910 billion) in new campuses and programmes in East Africa that will see the creation of more than 6,000 jobs in the region, its president said yesterday. -  Mr Firoz Rasul said the university was looking forward to working with the national governments in the region to ensure a conducive environment for such an investment. -  Speaking during the 5th graduation ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Mr Rasul said Aga Khan University set to become East Africa's first regional university with campuses in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

The $700 million investment is more than half of Tanzania's 2008/09 allocation to education pegged at Sh1.43 trillion, which is some 32 per cent of the entire national Budget.

At this year's graduation, a total of 117 students graduated in various disciplines.

Three were awarded masters of medicine degrees, 40, diploma in general nursing, 49, Bachelor of Science, Nursing and 25, masters in education.

Mr Rasul said the university would establish its principal campus at Arusha, to house the faculty of arts and sciences as well as graduate schools in various professional disciplines.

"Through this faculty, we aim to develop a whole new generation of leadership steeped in the issues of the region and equipped with the knowledge and critical thinking skills to solve the these problems," he told the gathering.


The faculty hoped to produce graduates who would be armed with a strong sense of the pluralism of the region, he said.

"They will value the diversity of faiths and people that live in the region."

The students would also be grounded in an ethical framework that would enable them to make the right decisions for the benefit of their societies.

"In Kenya, we are building on the reputation of high quality healthcare," he said.

Services provided by the Aga Khan University in Nairobi over the past 50 years were be the basis of a plan to develop the faculty of health sciences composed of a medical college as well as a school of nursing and midwifery and to train health care professionals to international standards.


"In Uganda, we have the advanced nursing studies programme that works to enhance the capabilities of working nurses to improve their knowledge and leadership skills," the university president said.

Stressing that conditions had to be conducive for such an investment, he pledged the university's willingness to work with governments in the region to realise the goals.

"Naturally this expansion of our university will directly impact on the services we provide to the communities we serve and is a part of the overall development of the East African region."

In Nairobi, for instance, a major step towards realising this vision is a $50 million initiative Heart and Cancer Centre to be launched at the end of the year.

"The centre will provide critical medical treatment currently not available in East Africa," Mr Rasul said, adding that it would also train specialists in cardiac diseases and cancer.


Chief Justice Augustino Ramadhani, who officiated at the graduation, praised the university for establishing nursing studies in response to requests by the East African governments.

He said the programme would promote the services of the nursing cadre to a higher level of service.

Mr Justice Ramadhani also noted the importance of the Institute for Educational Development established in December 2006, to enhance the calibre of teaching.

"Tanzania needs good teachers, the sort of teachers who are taught current leadership," said Justice Ramadhani.

He said that according to Aga Khan University's founder and Chancellor, His Highness the Aga Khan, the institution aimed at being "on the frontiers of scientific and humanistic knowledge, radiating intelligence and confidence, research and graduates, into flourishing economies and progressive legal and political systems."

"We are just about to witness the manifestation of these magnificent goals," he said. 

He told the graduands that they were the beneficiaries of an intellectual tradition of the Aga Khan's forefathers, the Fatimids, who established the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, over 1,000 years ago.

"You have a duty to reflect that tradition. Anyone who deals with you should be able to see the difference in your manners, treatment, care, humility and politeness," he said.

The Aga Khan University's presence in East Africa is based on the long-term commitment of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

Mr Rasul said the university was committed to improving the wellbeing of communities in the region through quality education and healthcare, as well as rural and urban development initiatives. Source - All Africa DotCom