By John Masaba
The state minister for ICT and National Guidance, Joyce Ssebugwawo, has hailed International Business, Science and Technology University (ISBAT) for promoting the culture of entrepreneurial mindset in the country.
She made the remarks in Kampala on Tuesday, May 9, while inaugurating the university’s innovation entrepreneurship exhibition and the launch of the state-of-the-art hybrid blended learning platform – iLearn.
She emphasized the importance of an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset for the youth and urged institutions of higher learning to emulate ISBAT in molding a culture of entrepreneurship.
“I know about ISBAT University for its technological advancement in ICT and the huge investments in ventures that support the youth in Uganda. It is a fact that our youth are passionate about modern education. Unfortunately, such facilities are not available to the youth in other parts of the country,” she said.
Ssebugwawo noted that ISBAT students are lucky that they are getting state-of-the-art infrastructure. “I appreciate that ISBAT University has created a niche for itself among the best universities,” she said.
The minister heard that ISBAT inculcates the skills and competencies in its students to become job creators rather than job seekers.
The minister lauded the innovative blended learning platform introduced by ISBAT which is a new-age model of education delivery the world over.
Speaking about entrepreneurship and iLearn, ISBAT University’s founder and board chairman Varghese Mundamattam, said innovation and entrepreneurship is an important milestones in today’s global competitiveness.
“Our youths have enormous talents in vivid areas, and what they need is a push in the right direction and encouragement and support to put their innovative ideas into practice. As a leading technologically advanced institution of higher learning, it is our responsibility to ensure that our students and the wider community are equipped with the necessary skills to open new avenues, start-ups, and new businesses for national building,” he said.
Mundamattam said they are proud to have the opportunity to impart their expertise to building entrepreneurship capabilities and hoped that this exhibition would contribute to their efforts in bringing more jobs and revenues to the country.
The Chancellor of ISBAT University, Fred Omach, highlighted the importance of promoting an innovation culture in Uganda’s education institutions in particular and the country at large.
“Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good service for societal transformation,” he said.
He complimented the management of ISBAT University for the ICT infrastructure in skilling the youth of the country.
The University’s vice chancellor, Prof. K.M Mathew, said entrepreneurship encourages analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills, and develops leadership and networking abilities.
“Students learn to identify and solve problems, work in teams, calibrate risks, and effectively communicate with others in very different domains,” he said.
Exhibitions
During the exhibition, 18 students from various disciplines demonstrated their business models, such as QR codes for security, the Smart Hope Assistant app, the Grocery Delivery app, Oil Perfume Body Scents, and E-Commerce Online Store.
Others were Fluid Simulations in Cinema 4D modeling and advertising models ads in Cinema 4D, management information systems, and hotel management techniques, among others.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar, the university’s director of academic affairs, highlighted the significance of hybrid blended learning. He said through this learning platform, learners can be constantly in touch with their experts using discussion forums, and chat sessions and can access the best learning resources at their fingertips anytime anywhere.
He also said it provides a phenomenal learning experience through outcome-based learning, a self-paced learning path, gamification of learning complex topics easily and interestingly, and virtual labs, among others.
“This platform offers excellent support services in deep learning. It is built with an artificial intelligence system, where the system tracks the learning performance and provides feedback about completion of courses through dashboards,” he said.
The academic registrar, Dr Giju Paul, and all faculties and students took an active part in the entrepreneurship exhibitions.
