Equatoria International University, temporarily located at Torit Technical Institute in South Sudan’s Torit State, opened officially on Friday.
The university’s academic registrar, Prof. Bwanga Philemon said that 44 students have been admitted to the university’s colleges of Business Management as well as Humanity and Social Sciences.
He said documents of the applicants are still under scrutiny.
Bwanga pointed out that all the normal activities of the new university would effectively commence on Monday, June 24.
“Torit is actually blessed to have this university now functioning. Education is now brought on your doorsteps so that you can access education cheaply and even at your own convenience. In our program, from Monday at 10:00, we expect all those whose names were read on radio stations to come for orientation,” said Bwanga.
He added, “We need to equip you with what you are supposed to go through during the classes and your respective lecturers. After that, on Tuesday we shall have orientation of our staff members”.
On his part, the university’s vice chancellor, Dr. Piere Atilio Ekwa vowed to maintain lecturers by providing them reasonable salaries.
He urged the men to allow women to enroll for university education.
“They say if you educate a woman, you educate the whole nation. I want women who completed secondary to go to school,” he said.
Ekwa urged government to allocate funds for women scholarships. Each enrolled student, he said, would pay 45,000 South Sudanese Pounds.
James Ochan Amos, a student admitted into the Department of Public Administration, expressed excitement, vowing to pursue his university education.
“I am very much excited to the extent I cannot even say anything. This is a great opportunity for everybody. Career doesn’t mean it is the end. The end is when you die. When the advertisement came, I picked interest to enroll again and now am going to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration,” he said.
Ochan encouraged colleagues to join higher institutions of learning, while expressing fears that many may not afford expensive tuition fees.
Meanwhile, Torit state governor, Tobiolo Alberio Oromo said that the establishment of a university is one of the needs of the population.
He said the higher education ministry allowed the university to operate after a committee inspected the institution. “The action has already been taken, what we need is the immediate implementation. It was a long-awaited university. When we tried to engage sons and daughters of Torit State to allow us to have at least one university, there were a lot of trials here and there, but of course things are all controlled by God,” said Oromo.
He added, “Together we are able to give our concern to the ministry of higher education to at least approve, which they did. Let us give congratulations and thanks to the ministry because they sent a committee up to here. The committee members went and they did their assessment and then they recommended.”
Oromo thanked Hillieu community for allocating the university’s land.
Located about 5 kilometers south of Torit town, a piece of land measuring 1,200 by 500 meters in Himodonge payam was allocated for the new university.