Uganda Christian University


Uganda Christian University is a private church-founded university administered by the Church of Uganda. It was the first private University in Uganda to be awarded a charter by the Government of Uganda.

Location

UCU's main campus, with approximately 8,000 students, is in the town of Mukono, approximately, by road, east of Uganda's capital city, Kampala, on the Kampala-Jinja Highway. The coordinates of the main campus are 0°21'27.0"N, 32°44'29.0"E.
Bishop Barham University College is a regional constituent college of UCU, with about 1,500 students, located in the city of Kabale, approximately, by road, south-west of Kampala. Other regional campuses include UCU Mbale Campus, which is in Mbale, and UCU Arua Campus, which is in Arua. In 2019 construction of a permanent fifth campus in Kampala began, in the Mengo neighborhood, along Musajja Alumbwa Road.

Origins

UCU was founded in 1997 by the Anglican Church of Uganda from its premier theological seminary/college Bishop Tucker Theological College, which was established in 1913 and named after the pioneer missionary bishop Alfred Robert Tucker.

Chancellor

UCU's chancellor is the Archbishop of Uganda, currently Stephen Kaziimba, since March 2020. Te table below outlines the tenures of the chancellors of the university since its inception, in 1997.
RankChancellorFromUntilNotes
1Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo19972004
2Henry Luke Orombi20042012
3Stanley Ntagali20122020
4Stephen Kaziimba2020
Incumbent

Vice Chancellor

The first vice chancellor, Stephen Noll, was installed in 2000. He is an American Anglican priest, theologian, and missionary. He helped UCU to receive a government charter in 2004, the first of its kind in Uganda. Noll's term as vice chancellor ended in 2010.
John Senyonyi is the UCU's second vice chancellor and a mathematician and evangelist. He joined UCU as a chaplain in 2001. He rose to become the deputy vice chancellor for finance and administration. Later, he became the first deputy vice chancellor in charge of development and external relations, the first such position in any Ugandan university.

UCU today

While the majority of faculty and students are Ugandan, UCU has attracted students from other African Great Lakes countries and a number of expatriate staff from North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. These international ties are in part historic through societies like the Church Mission Society and in part new ties formed among churches of the Anglican Communion.

Faculties and departments

As of March 2020, the university is divided into the following schools, faculties, and departments:
  1. Faculty of Law
  2. UCU School of Medicine
  3. Faculty of Social Sciences
  4. Faculty of Education and Arts
  5. Faculty of Science and Technology
  6. Faculty of Business and Administration
  7. Bishop Tucker School of Theology
  8. Faculty of Journalism, Media & Communication.

    Medical school

In March 2016, the Daily Monitor newspaper reported that UCU and Mengo Hospital were negotiating for the establishment of a UCU school of medicine at the hospital. No time-frame was disclosed.
On 26 February 2018, the Uganda National Council for Higher Education gave the university a letter of accreditation for three new medical courses Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Bachelor of Public Health. The three courses will be offered at the Uganda Christian University School of Medicine, starting in August 2018.

Notable alumni

The Church