This Sunday, November 15, 2020, Kalambo Campus lived a festive day for the graduation ceremony. Led by Monsignor François-Xavier Maroy Rusengo, Archbishop of Bukavu and Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University of Bukavu, the activities including a thanksgiving mass and an academic session took place in a tender climate from 9AM to 4 PM. Members of the University, partners, students, including laureate of the day, along with their respective families, took part.

Almost a year has passed since the opening of the 2019-2020 academic year. The health context linked to Covid-19 pandemic disrupted its logical course, forcing the authority to declare a state of emergency. Rich in new experiences and punctuated by a few stops, this year was one in which the University faced a new challenge in its education system. During the temporary suspension of face-to-face activities, the Catholic University of Bukavu has adopted the distance learning mode which will henceforth be one of the tools to be used for the coming years. Thanks to Moodle application, students continued to attend lessons. A few practical courses were organized shortly before the exam session in accordance with the timetable restructured by the Ministry of Higher and University Education.

In his address, the Vice-Rector to Academic Affairs presented the overall education situation. Thus, 3,118 students registered for the first, second and third phases during the 2019-2020 academic year. These are 1786 male students (57%) and 1332 female students (43%). The difference from 2018-2019 in which 2,845 students were enrolled is 273 students, (9.6% increase in enrollment). 31 foreign students registered during 2019-2020. They are of 5 nationalities (Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic and Rwanda). 3016 students registered for first round exams. However, this report only reports on 2,963 students as for reasons beyond our control, the first year in Social Science Bachelor’s degree has not yet been deliberated. This report also does not take into account 4th year of Medicine and postgraduate programs which have a specific timeline. However, 515 students passed (17.38%). There is a slight regression compared to 2018-2019 academic year where the success rate on first round was 18.73% and which would be due to the difficult conditions for many students during the period of quarantine. The best percentage is 86.1% achieved by MUSA HABIBU RAMAZANI, a first-year student in Law pre-bachelor. Subject to statistical bias and proportions kept, performance by faculty is as follows: Architecture (35%), Sciences (22.96%), Medicine (16.76%), Agronomy (15.27%), Economy (15.22%), Social Sciences (11%) and Law (9.57%).

Strength of character, inventiveness spirit, entrepreneurship beyond effort, are the suggestions made to the laureates and which came up in the various speeches. From the Grand Chancellor to the Rector, including the Deputy Mayor of Bukavu, the representative of the University Foundation of Bukavu and the President of the Federation of Former Students of UCB. Becoming good ambassadors of the University by distinguishing themselves on the moral and scientific levels must be their credo. In view of the current economic context of the country, they were called upon to combine their efforts in order to bring back a smile to the trainers and better still, to the parents who have sacrificed themselves until then for their studies. Better still for those who can, to continue their postgraduate studies.