This year’s Pan African Association of Adventist Universities and Colleges (PAUC) Vice Chancellors’ Annual General Meeting was supposed to bring university leaders from across Africa to Bugema University in person. When it was moved online just days before, most delegates simply logged in from their home campuses. One delegation decided to come anyway.
Dr. Esther Masarira Landane, Vice Chancellor of the Adventist University of Mozambique (UAM), and her Deputy Vice Chancellor for Financial Administration, Mrs. Norah Razemba, set out from Mozambique on 2 September and travelled through the day before landing in Entebbe. For them, the trip was more than the AGM.
From left to right : DVC-Academics Dr. Rosette Kabuye; Vice Chancellor Bugema University Prof. Israel M. Kafeero; Vice Chancellor Adventist University of Mozambique(UAM) Dr. Esther Masarira Landane; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Financial Administration (UAM) Mrs. Norah Razemba; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance Pr. William Bagambe.
“We are also very interested in exploring areas of mutual collaboration and, if possible, working towards signing an MoU between our two institutions,” Landane said ahead of the visit. “We believe that such an agreement could provide a meaningful framework for cooperation in areas such as academic programmes, administration, staff and student exchange, research, and other areas of mutual interest. We are therefore very much looking forward to meeting you and your team, learning from Bugema, and exploring how our two universities can support and strengthen one another.”
That spirit of connection carried into the AGM itself. The meeting opened with a devotional from Dr. Moses N. Maaka, Executive Secretary of the East-Central Africa Division (ECD), who reminded delegates that the work of Adventist higher education begins with the church’s core mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ in Matt 28:18-20.
Prof. Israel Kafeero, Bugema’s Vice Chancellor, chaired the session and welcomed members for making time to attend. He spoke about what collaboration between PAUC institutions has looked like in practice faculty travelling to teach at sister universities, and joint benchmarking trips abroad, like the one they had to South Korea in 2024.
In the room at Bugema were Kafeero; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academics Dr. Rosette Kabuye; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance Pr. William Bagambe; and Registrar Justine Lwanga, Dr. Claire Kyomuhendo Dean school of Social Sciences, Mr. Mpiima Ag. Director Quality Assurance; Mr. Okoth Ronald Otieno QAO programs and accreditation; Ms. Sandra N. Ssali University PR Officer; Webmaster Bugema University Buyinza Joshua together with the visiting pair from Mozambique. Online, the AGM drew leaders from across the network among them Prof. Ademola Tayo, Vice Chancellor of the Adventist University of Africa in Kenya; Dr. Charlene R Reinecke President of Helderberg College of Higher Education; and representatives of Kanye Seventh-day Adventist College of Nursing, alongside many others from PAUC’s member institutions.
One of the meeting’s central presentations came from Dr. Felix Njini, Director of Education for the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division of Seventh-day Adventists
Pretoria, South Africa., who spoke on deepening collaboration across PAUC’s academic programmes. He closed with a simple charge to the group: Press On.
Delegates also used the meeting to elect PAUC’s leadership for the year ahead:
- President: Prof. Israel Kafeero, Bugema University (ECD)
- Vice-President: Khumbelani Mpofu, Solusi University (SID)
- Secretary: Mrs. Carol Shabane, Kanye Seventh-day Adventist College of Nursing (SID)
- Treasurer: Ademola Tayo, Adventist University of Africa (Ex Officio)
- Member: Toussaint Aristide Nguele, Cosendai Adventist University (WAD)
- Member: Msafiri Jackson, University of Eastern Africa, Baraton (ECD)
It’s this new team that will now carry PAUC’s work forward strengthening ties among Seventh-day Adventist universities and colleges across Sub-Saharan Africa, the East-Central Africa Division, and the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division. The Mozambique delegation’s visit is an indication, that work is already well underway.
Bugema University extends its appreciation to all PAUC member institutions for their continued partnership in advancing Adventist higher education across the continent.
