“IUEA is one of the youngest universities in the country, and we are very happy to have received this award in recognition of the excellent work that the team here at IUEA has done on the online platform.”
– The vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Emeka Akaezuwa said in an interview.
Uganda is one of the most hospitable and peaceful countries in Africa. It has been a haven to many private institutions, organizations, companies and investors from every part of the world for quite some time.
Considering the contributions they attract to societal and economic development, the Republic of Uganda initiated the Visionaries of Uganda Awards which delves into to identify and boost profiles of infinite aspects of organisations, companies, personalities and their impact to society development since 2013. This is in tandem to the vision 2040 which aims at transforming Uganda from a predominantly peasant and low income country to a competitive upper middle income country.
This year’s award ceremony was officiated by Her excellency, Vice president of Uganda, Jessica Alupo.
IUEA was awarded as best visionary for online teaching international university of the year by the republic of Uganda. This was during the 9th visionaries of Uganda Awards ceremony held at Serena Hotel Kampala last week on Wednesday, 2nd December 2021.
Her excellency, Jessica Alupo presented the award to IUEA’s Prof. Emeka and team on behalf of the president, His excellency, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in his absence.
Ever Since IUEA was sanctioned by National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to begin its operation in 2010, the university has strived to offer the best education not only to Uganda’s nationals but to the rest of the world at large both physically and online.
IUEA’s online platform was unveiled in August 2020 after approval by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in order to adapt to the “stay home, stay safe” slang when the covid-19 pandemic had hit the world in 2019.
“As soon as schools closed, we realised that a pandemic lasts for a long time and the best approach for us to take was to build a very solid online platform.”
– Prof. Emeka said.
IUEA was among the first universities in Uganda to adapt to online teaching using its user-friendly and flexible IUEA onlineU platform that enables the university to manage student’s information and communicate with them. The platform is unique in such a way that it gives Students a curriculum for the entire semester. Students are able to attend live online lectures, rewatch missed lectures, submit tests and assignments and sit their exams using a biometric check exam module that can detect and confirm the student’s identity and presence.
“Our exam module has biometric checking that will enable us to know that the student who is doing the exam is actually our student…we have improved the system significantly and we will continue to improve it!”
– Emeka emphasized!
One of the major challenges students face while using the platform is poor internet connection and unexpected electricity disconnection. The university therefore went ahead to build a section to store recordings of classes so that students can catch up.
This has proved to be a significant contribution towards Uganda middle income status Aspiration and Vision 2040.
