Home | News | AMADI MAKES STRIDES, PARTNERS WITH ITALIAN UNIVERSITY

AMADI MAKES STRIDES, PARTNERS WITH ITALIAN UNIVERSITY

06/04/2022 08:37:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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NGWENYA – Amadi University is making great strides in the education sector.

In its offering of quality and relevant education, the university has partnered with the Catholic University of Milan in Italy and Malaysia University of Science and Technology. Other institutions that are in partnership with Amadi University include the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) of the United Kingdom and Midlands State University of Zimbabwe.
The Midlands State University is one of the oldest partners of Amadi University.

development

The main campus of AMADI University moved from Mbabane to Ngwenya where it sits on a 76 hectare estate. The first phase of the campus development includes classrooms, laboratories, administration blocks and some sports fields. John Bukutu, the Director of AMADI University, announced that the institution has established a foundation to raise funds to offer, among other things, scholarships to its students and to also build accommodation for them. On a limited basis, the institution, in conjunction with its partners, offers some scholarships and sponsorships to its students, he said. There are about 940 students for both full and part-time courses. The director said the institution’s ultimate goal was to have up to 60 per cent of the students getting some of the scholarships and sponsorships in the next five years. He said they allowed students to write examinations without paying full tuition fees with the hope that they would pay later in order to get their certificates. He said it puzzled them to see a pile of certificates issued five years ago uncollected from the office.

majority

“Say, we have a class of 100 students, and only 30 pay their full tuition fees. Those who pay wonder how we fail to finance our needs when they have paid in full, unknowing that a majority of their colleagues haven’t paid. We then struggle to pay salaries and maintain the institution,” he said. He said they were working with funding partners to improve the infrastructure and construction of student and staff housing. He said the construction was expected to start this year. “This will be achieved through a number of fundraising activities that the foundation will be starting this year,” Bukutu said.

enrolled

He said the number of enrolled students was expected to increase when accommodation has been built for them. “We are working on logistics of starting construction with our funding partners,” he said in an interview. It must be said that Amadi University does not receive subvention from government. Its programmes are accredited by Eswatini Higher Education Council. The university’s director disclosed that they had established a university funding arm called AMADI Africa Foundation that would be launched this year.

mandate

He explained that the mandate of the foundation was to raise funds for the university for use in offering scholarships, construction of learning infrastructure, sports facilities, arts and culture centre, university medical centre, a climate smart centre and a science education centre. As a result, he said Amadi University expected to offer more scholarships from 2023 after the launch of the foundation. He mentioned that over the years, they had noticed that there were a lot of potential students who qualified to pursue courses at the university, but could not do so because of financial constraints. He said others started their courses, but were forced to abandon their studies because of lack of funds. “As a private institution, AMADI does not receive any subvention from government and this makes it very challenging to run our programmes, especially when students are not able to pay their fees,” he decried this situation.

offering

The director further explained: “this affects the service offered to students and staff alike.” He pointed to the fact that AMADI Africa Foundation would, therefore, assist in fundraising for the university and also offer scholarships to deserving students. He emphasised: “our goal is to have up to 60 per cent of students on some of the scholarship and sponsorship in the next five years. This will be achieved through a number of fundraising activities that the foundation will be starting this year.”

disclosed

Bukutu disclosed that AMADI was a learning organisation, with all its staff members, including lecturers, being encouraged to upgrade their knowledge by constantly learning. He said all the staffers were fully sponsored by the institution to pursue senior degrees. The director stated that many of them took advantage of this facility provided by the university to advance their studies. Consequently, he said several of them have earned degrees and masters over the past 10 years. “Some have gone on to work in other reputable organisations after leaving AMADI,” he said.

AMADI was founded in 2003 as Africa Management Development Institute (AMADI). However, the university programmes started in 2009, after the institution became an affiliate college of the Midlands State University of Zimbabwe, making it the first private institution in Eswatini to offer education courses. As the first private institution to offer education courses in the country, AMADI became popular with those who sought to develop themselves further in the field of teaching. Most of the early participants in the institution’s courses were those who were upgrading their qualifications from certificate (the old Primary teacher certificate) to diploma, and those who were upgrading from diploma to bachelor’s degrees and later on to Masters. “Credit is due to the hardworking and pioneering academics of both AMADI and MSU,” Bukutu said.

He said the institution offers diploma and degree programmes in education, commerce, health and safety, human resource management, accounting and finance, supply chain management, masters in business administration and masters of commerce in accounting. The director disclosed that preparations were at an advanced stage to offer technical and vocational courses, as these were considered critical to any nation’s economic development.