By Paola Moggi, cms – Sud Sudan
Attracted by the motto “The truth will set you free”, 30 young men and women convened on September 29 2008 in the premises of Comboni Secondary School in Juba: they were the pioneer students of the Catholic University of South Sudan. The well renowned secondary school of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba, which had offered quality education to thousands of Southerners since 1982, had generously availed its Chemistry and Physics laboratories as rooms and offices for the university.
Indeed, a very humble beginning, but post-war Juba was still a town in ruins: huts and tents were the most common shelters, while most UN offices were hosted in containers.
It was that first act of solidarity which marked the birth of the Catholic University.
Comboni’s vision takes shape…
To set up universities had been a dream of St. Daniel Comboni in his “Plan for the Regeneration of Africa”, and in 2008 in Southern Sudan there was none: the State University, displaced from Juba to Khartoum during the decades of war, was relocating slowly in its premises which until the Peace Agreement of 2005 had been barracks the Sudan Army.
In 2008 the Jesuit priest Michael Schultheis, on behalf of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, had miraculously managed to start the Faculty of Economics. Its aim was to prepare badly needed managers for post-war Southern Sudan, a country endowed with abundant natural resources but lacking capacity to manage them.
Due the rapid increase in students’ enrolment, in 2010 the campus moved into a building of the Comboni Missionaries, which until then had hosted the Training Centre of the Sudan Catholic Radio Network, a media initiative started in 2007 by the Comboni Family to sustain the fragile Sudan Peace Agreement. The premises were very basic, but could still accommodate the academic activities. It was that second act of solidarity which enabled the Catholic University to grow.
… with help from all over the world
Over the years Fr. Schultheis managed to mobilise support from religious and secular institutions, mainly of North America and Europe.
In 2009 the town of Wau welcomed the campus of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, hosted in Diocesan buildings.
The costs of renovation and construction have been covered by many Catholic organizations, while scholarship schemes have enable poor but committed men and women to pursue their studies.
In 2012 the “baby” Catholic University of South Sudan was affiliated to the solid Catholic University of Eastern Africa, and the first graduation awarded the degrees to 22 students: for them unforeseeable opportunities would open up to better their life and the life of their communities. Since then, the Juba campus has grown further: since 2019 it operates in its own premises, though still very basic, and counts more Faculties and an Institute of Justice and Peace Studies.
What will the future be?
In February 2019 the University was accredited by the National Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of South Sudan as one of the eight private universities which can award Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees in Business, Commerce, Economics Studies, Education, Social Sciences, and Agricultural Sciences.
Though still in need of more facilities and more qualified teaching staff, the Catholic University of South Sudan offers a valuable contribution to the life of the Country and its people. The academic institution has survived two bloody outbreaks of violence which have caused widespread killings and destruction in 2013-2014 and 2016-2017. It has managed to overcome the covid-19 pandemic granting distant and online teaching, and at present operates also in the town of Yambio.
In August 2023, the students enrolled were more than 1.500 and on May 4 2024 the university celebrates the graduation of 552 students, almost half of them women.
Despite its very humble beginnings, the Catholic academic institution has provided higher education to students who would have otherwise been excluded: more that 4.000 men and women from all backgrounds have graduated in this multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual centre.
Many are appreciated in their place of work, not only for their competence but also for their ethical standard. Josephine Achiro, one of the first graduates, is now the Chairperson of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan.
Last February Cardinal Stephen Ameyu, the new Chancellor, paid a visit to the University to praise its mission and encourage its growth.
Indeed, the Catholic University of South Sudan plans to add more faculties and programmes in the near future: the resources are limited, but with God’s help and much endeavour by the staff also this dream can come true.