15 years As CIU’s Registrar

My journey with CIU started on the 1st of July 2007. At that time, the university was the International University of Health Sciences. So, I joined Professor Carabine, who was the vice chancellor then, to sit down and understand what we wanted to see as a university, what we wanted to do, and how we wanted to do it. Of course, “Dee” as we all called her, had already started some preliminary work with IMG director, Dr. Clarke, and had a chat with Dr. Galukande. The core issues we identified were providing human resources for healthcare with a difference, and that’s where we picked it up from.

When I came in 2007, the university was a project. That means, according to the National Council requirements, we were given time to come up with our documentation, statutes, handbooks, and the programs we wanted to offer. We started working on curriculum development and getting it approved by the council, setting the ball rolling. In 2007, together with Prof. Carabine, we focused on creating the manuals. We came up with the Human Resource Manual and the handbooks for the different faculties. We identified that we could start with nursing and public health.

In the process of working with the council, we realized that there was another university in South America called the International University of Health Sciences. Therefore, we couldn’t use that name. So, we decided to change the acronyms again. Now, we call

Evelyen Ayot Registrar

ourselves the International Health Sciences University. We presented this name to the council, and they accepted it. From 2007 to March 2008, we primarily focused on paperwork and getting everything organized.

During that time, there were five of us. I was the second staff member recruited. We also had a librarian, an IT person, and an administrator. We started what was IHSU at that time. Word had already spread about a new university opening at the hospital. We had one student who used to come in every day and sit in the library just to read. We had a fully stocked library, and this boy, I think from Kansanga, used to come and read there. Additionally, there was the International Hospital School of Nursing.

At that time, there was a group of around 23 students doing a diploma in nursing to become registered nurses. These were the first group of students that were automatically converted into the university. We started by taking part in the National Council exhibition, showing that we were no longer a project. We started advertising in the papers and through word of mouth. Our first cohort of students was officially admitted in August 2008. We had acquired the license to operate.

Between March 2008 and August 2008, we focused on recruiting both staff and students. Our first task was to identify the deans. We got Professor Ndunguse from Makerere University and Dr. Zeidadan from Aga Khan to head the School of Nursing. They used their connections to recruit staff, and we also advertised in the papers. We had gathered the core staff we needed. With the students, we admitted those who met the requirements. The university officially started, and we were seated at IHK third floor, sharing the space with IHK and IMG.

By the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, we moved and occupied the whole floor. We had three classrooms but five courses. We had students doing the diploma in nursing, the ones we had picked up from the International School of Nursing. We also had students admitted into our BNS nursing program and the undergraduate public health program. We began with that cohort. Additionally, since we had permission from the National Council to run the master’s program, we admitted students for the full-time and online programs.

Our Moodle platform was working well for e-learning. Even the entry exam for admission was conducted online with timed sections. As we started with the bachelor’s program, we also introduced other diploma programs. Students applied for diplomas in health promotion and education, as well as healthcare leadership and management. We also had a group of students from South Sudan who were being trained as healthcare assistants through an agreement with Dr. Clarke and the Health Center in Yeni, South Sudan. They joined in August 2009.

During this time, we had a busy campus. We had a part-time program in public health in the evening, from 6 to 9, to accommodate the working group. This program was very popular as it was the first of its kind in the country. Our target was to provide human resources for health, and since most nurses have three days off a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), we scheduled the top-up program for Fridays and Saturdays. The MPH program had options for part-time, full-time, and e-learning.

We worked with Professor Carabine from 2007 to 2011, and the number of students during that time was estimated to be around 500-800. We had our first graduation in 2009, as the master’s program was one year long. The following year, we graduated the diploma students since their program lasted two years. We had a fully-fledged university with senior managers, including a vice chancellor, deans, a librarian, and an IT manager. We managed with a small staff because the student numbers were still small at that time.

In 2011, Professor Carabine left, which was quite a shake for us. She was a person who wanted things done and done well. She paid attention to detail, and I learned a lot from her, especially in terms of presentation and how things should be done. For example, we even had a university font, and all letters had to be written in Verdana with a font size of 12. We also had a letterhead with the snake symbol on the left side, symbolizing health and the bringing in of new life. She set parameters and expected meetings to be scheduled and tasks to be completed on time.

After Carabine’s departure, we were uncertain about what would happen next. However, the foundation she laid helped us pick up from where she left off. We had all the necessary documentation, statutes, and policies in place. Lectures started promptly at 9 a.m., and she made sure everything was running smoothly. When she left, we had a new vice chancellor and continued our journey.

Then I get Dr. Nick Wooding, now Dr. Nick Wooding, was a slightly laid-back person, community oriented. Dr. Nick would spend a lot of his time in the communities, but we had targets to meet. The difference was that for Professor Carabin, she had been in academia, and Dr. Nick was coming from a pure hospital medical background. So now, we had to blend the two, going through the policies, expectations, and determining what was needed and what had to be done. In the background, that means you spent a lot more time trying to fit with the VC in place as opposed to following what the VC would want you to do.

Nick Wooding was there from 2011 to 2014. Since we were now more community-oriented, that’s when we had the first play at the theater. We adopted plays to reach out to people and use drama as a tool for education. Also, Dr. Nick, as I said, was more student-oriented, so you’d find Dr. Nick with the students all the time, chatting with them. As the registrar, I had to come in and try to stabilize and remind him to strike a balance with the administrative part. We had grown our staff; we had many more people. One thing is that during Dr. Nick’s time, we were recruiting alumni. He had spent time with the students, so as they graduated, he would suggest hiring them. We had many alumni join on board as staff. Also, since Dr. Nick was a missionary, he was taking his salary, so all his salary went back into the university. That’s how we were able to buy those buses being sold, as the money went back into the university and stabilized it. We were also able to send several of our staff to do a comparative benchmarking study in the UK because he had established connections with Oxford. We sent staff to study at Oxford and learn from what they did. We also established a good relationship with Chiwoko Hospital because Dr. Nick was one of the directors, so we developed greatly with our community networks.

Around this time, with Dr. Nick, the university was stable. We were doing what we needed to do, advertising, and getting students. All was well. Then, Dr. Nick left. I know the question you asked me was, “How was it working with the different vice-chancellors?” It was draining because just when you feel like you’ve now reached a point where you can let go and do other things, one VC is leaving and another is coming, and you’re starting from scratch.

Now, Dr. Wooding was community-oriented, and then Dr. Scott comes in, a blend of both an academician and a community-oriented person. Dr. Scott was in and out all the time, so that burden was left on me, who was on the ground because within a year, Scott would be away 3-4 times due to family and validation reasons. That means at least three months, from June to August, he had to be back in the UK for validation, then he would come back in August, and we would pick up the semester. Then, he had to go away for Christmas, and around February, he had to go away again. He was hardly on campus, but he was pleasant. He would typically come and catch up with different staff and students, getting a one-on-one update of what was happening in the university.

Because of this, we had invited Dr. Rose to be a DVC since we had expanded the programs we were teaching. We had started the allied programs, clinical medicine, and the Bachelor of Medical Sciences. The numbers had grown. We realized that we really needed a deputy vice-chancellor, so we reached out to Dr. Rose. She had already finished her PhD, and Dr. Clarke had mentioned that she would come back. When we had the meeting with her, we talked about the opportunity. She had been there with IHSU in the start when establishing the School of Nursing, and she already had the Rose’s Journey scholarship program, which we were managing for her at the university. She would come from time to time to get updates and reports and tell us what we needed to do and how many students she was going to sponsor. So, when she came, I think looking at the need because Dr. Clarke had identified the need, we needed a DVC to be able to consolidate the programs and help the university. Dr. Rose agreed to come in as a DVC to provide support, but not as VC yet because she had been teaching at the university but hadn’t been doing administrative work. After about one year, we made a swap, and Dr. Scott had to leave. This was in October 2016.

Around this time, the total number of staff should have been about 90 to 95. Although note that in 2015, we had to downsize. The reasons were that we realized we had quite a big number of staff, and our income could not sustain all of them because the number of students we had shown in our books was different from the actual number we had in the university. We were teaching more people than the ones we collected money from. Records showed 1200 students, but we had like 700 or 800 students, so we had to downsize. For me, that was one of the most stressful times of my employment at Clarke International University, which was IHSU. Downsizing involved letting go of staff. Dr. Scott not being around meant I had to sit in with the lawyer and ask people to leave. We asked Sean Clarke to come in and clearly show staff where we were heading, why we were going that way, and what the best options would be. There was a lot of back and forth, but finally, we had to do it. I remember the first lot of staff that we downsized, for me, it was so painful because they came to work normally, and by 5 pm, they were fired. Even for the ones that remained, there was a lot of uncertainty. They would come and just sit, waiting to be called. That really shook the university, both students and staff. It was indeed a very disorganizing time. For me, I get attached to my staff, I’m attached to people. So now, for me to wake up and tell you that so and so today is your last day of work, I think about you, I think about your family, I think about your dependents. People took us to the National Council to report this and that, but I had to go and explain and say, “This is where we are coming from.” I also had to explain why there was a turnover of vice-chancellors and address the rumors about Clarke. You must go and clear the air, but as an individual, that’s a bit stressful because you must be there and front your face to defend the entity due to the different decisions you’re making. You must defend the university to the National Council and explain the truth.

When Dr. Rose came in 2016-2017, we decided to change the name from IHSU to CIU. We realized that being an International Health Sciences University with Health Sciences as our niche limited us to a specific market. How could we tell people that a Health Sciences University is also offering business and technology? The market was shrinking, as other universities started offering the same courses, and the number of students studying sciences dropped.

The second reason we chose Clarke International University was to create a legacy for Dr. Clarke. We didn’t want his name to be forgotten in the future. Even now, if you walk into IHK (International Hospital Kampala), many do not know that he was once the owner of the hospital. So, we went through a process to change the name. We had to ask stakeholders, survey current students, and address the concerns of alumni and staff who were resistant. The National Council questioned why we named the university after Clarke when he was still alive. We responded that we wanted someone to be remembered when they have passed away. The new name covered all the old and planned courses, especially in arts and technolo- gy. It took time to adopt the new name, and to date, we still indicate “formerly IHSU” after writing CIU. But now, we are proud to be CIU.

We started the journey with Dr. Rose in 2016 and welcomed a new finance director, Ms. Iksha, in 2017. The university needed stability, and with Dr. Rose, Iksha, and me, a big change was coming. New systems, especially in finances, were implemented and gradually adopted. Working with Dr. Rose is like working with Dr. Carabine. When there’s something that needs to get done, it gets done. We meet halfway, with me handling the history and paperwork while she provides the vision.

With Dr. Rose, we made the decision to come to Bukasa. At that time, we didn’t have much money ourselves, but we had a small plot of land we had purchased years ago. The National Council of Higher Education required us to have land to obtain a charter. So, we bought a small piece of land in Bukasa after searching for the right location.Although the land was not large, we planned to maximize and utilize both the new plot and the one Dr. Ian owned in Bukasa where the IMG Group was located.

In 2019, IHK asked us to leave due to rent issues and their own expansion plans. We had only laid the foundation and completed a small portion of the ground floor of our building. We were forced to build quickly to accommodate the COVID-19 situation, as IHK needed more space and an isolation area. We put all our money into the construction, paying staff half salaries and focusing on building while the university continued its operations with subsidized tuition fees. We moved all our belongings from IHK to the new campus in Bukasa in May 2019 and our laboratories ended up in Annex, located above IHK.

It has been an incredible 15-year journey working with the same people, such as Ivan, in the registry department. It’s amazing to see people grow into great men and women who contribute to our society and community. Ivan has become my second in command, and I hope to see him pursue his master’s degree and become the new registrar. It’s an honor to witness the growth and success of many individuals, including Fiona, who was once my student and is now pursuing her PhD. We have more than 3000 graduates, Working with these people and being a part of their lives is a privilege.

In conclusion, I want to express my sincere appreciation to everyone I have worked with throughout this journey. I hope to see CIU grow bigger and better, with the establishment of schools like the School of Medicine. I am excited about the future and the possibilities for leadership, transformation, and innovation at Clarke International University.

Happy birthday to CIU!