Catholic Universities to use conference to instill values into students

Vice- chancellors of the Catholic Universities and colleges in East Africa have created Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) which seeks to entrench Christian values and ethics into their education curriculum.
“This conference brings together Catholic institutions from nine Eastern African countries namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Sudan and South Sudan, who seek to work together to forge a partnership in passing ethics to our students,” said the vice chancellor of Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Rev. Steven Mbugua.
Mbugua added that AMECEA was conceived after a series of meetings from vice chancellors and principals of Catholic institutions who wished to collaborate in the entrenchment of Christian values and ethics among their students.
Zambia Catholic University representative Rev. Patrick Chilambwe said that they wished to enhance quality and collaboration in AMECEA Universities, offer governance and effective Christian leadership and regional integration, creating an AMECEA identity in Catholic Universities.
“We are also working towards reintroducing Catholic courses into our curriculum which includes subjects such as critical thinking and Catholic social teaching,” said Chilambwe.
To ensure the program is a success, the AMECEA board has agreed to train chaplains in various institutions in dealing with modern day challenges and expand their role to offer guidance to students in terms of holistic life skills.
“The members have agreed to develop scientific papers on governance and various socio-economic issues to share with stakeholders,” said Professor Julio Buleya of Malawi Catholic University.
He added that they had agreed to meet and have a first joint conference in November 2019.
By Samuel Kitavi/Joseph Ng’ang’a