Opening Doors: a Path to Higher Education with the University Scholarship Program
The AIA University Scholarship Program
You have heard a lot about the pipeline of our scholarship program in our previous blog posts; The genesis and evolution of the program, the selection criteria, and the impact of the program on parents and students in the Nakuwadde community, and most recently about the AIA Internship program which is available after graduating from the Secondary Scholarship Program. Well, Action in Africa’s efforts of empowering the community through education continues after the internship program to the new University program. Over the next few blog posts, we will explain to you how that works.
Out of the over 832,000 students that register for the primary leaving exams in Uganda every year, only 180,000 make it to the university, which is about 8%. Yet in Uganda, a degree is the minimum qualification for most jobs in the formal sector and is usually what creates the difference between low-income and middle-income families. A university degree is therefore a tool for dynamic change in the social economic position of individuals, families, and communities.
As previously mentioned, the Action in Africa internship program is only available to 5 students each year. After completing the 9-month internship, the students are automatically awarded a full-tuition scholarship through our University Scholarship Program. This opportunity to intern with AIA during their long high school-to-college transition break is meant to help them understand the value of work as well as the value of community service, while simultaneously bolstering hard and soft skills.
Our secondary scholarship students are encouraged to start the application process for University immediately after they finish High school. We also have career guiding sessions that help them understand what their passions are and what career paths they should embrace, putting into consideration their passions as well as the relevance and demand for the different courses.
The AIA scholarship program, therefore, continues to be a community-based program, with a long-term impact. From the Secondary Scholarship Program to The Internship Program, to now The University Scholarship Program, many of the AIA students are beneficiaries of AIA’s education initiatives for over ten years! As an organization, we get to empower and support young people as they take on these education opportunities.
