The Aga Khan University has earmarked approximately $700 million (Shs 1.4 trillion) in new campuses and programmes in East Africa that will see the creation of more than 6,000 jobs in the region.
The disclosure was made by Firoz Rasul, its president, during the 5th graduation ceremony in Dar es Salaam on January 26. Rasul said Aga Khan University was set to become East Africa’s first regional university with campuses in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

He said AKU’s main campus in East Africa will be established in Arusha, and it will house the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as well as graduate schools in several professional areas. Internet sources say the Arusha campus will cost $450 million to build.

A total of 246 people graduated from AKU’s East Africa programmes this year. During the graduation ceremony held at the Aga Khan Pavilion in Nairobi on January 20, with Kenya’s Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka as chief guest, 82 students were conferred Medicine and Nursing degrees.

Twelve graduands received a Master of Medicine, 46 received Bachelor of Science in Nursing and 24 were awarded the Kenya Registered Community Health Nursing Diploma.

At a graduation ceremony presided over by Bank of Uganda Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, at Aga Khan School, Kampala, on January 23, some 47 graduands were awarded. 

Twenty-five students earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and 22 others received the Diploma in General Nursing from the Advanced Nursing Studies Programme.

At Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam on January 26, 117 students graduated in various disciplines. Three were awarded master’s degrees in Medicine; 40 got diploma in General Nursing; 49 bagged Bachelor of Science, Nursing; and 25 were awarded master’s in Education.

AKU was granted a charter in 1983 as Pakistan’s first private, autonomous university and it maintains a presence in three continents. It runs 11 teaching sites spread over eight countries:  - Afghanistan, Kenya, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Syria, Egypt and the United Kingdom. AKU’s principal campus is in Karachi, Pakistan, and its other major teaching hospital is in Nairobi, Kenya.

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