The Aga Khan University

The effectiveness of health care delivery is closely linked to the availability and quality of nursing. Yet in many places, there is little investment in the in-service support and training of nurses. Without recognition and a clear career path, many nurses leave their countries to take up opportunities overseas.

To arrest this drain of talent, the Aga Khan University (AKU) is implementing a large-scale in-service training programme designed to upgrade nursing skills across the East African region.

The Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa (AKU SONAM EA) is part of the Faculty of Heath Sciences at Aga Khan University.

AKU-SONAM has offered an Advanced Nursing Studies programme in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Developed at the request of nursing leaders and the respective governments, the programme offers continuing and higher education up to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) level to working nurses, allowing them to remain at their workplaces while pursuing professional development.

This innovative, part-time study programme allows practising nurses to learn and apply the new skills needed to improve the management and quality of patient care. At the same time, the programme enables the nurses to accumulate academic credits needed for career advancement.
The programme represents a coordinated response to the need for health sector reform in the East African region and is tailored to ensure that health services are more responsive to the needs of the people. It aims to strengthen health systems in, and contribute to an overall improvement in the health status of the population by upgrading nursing skills, improving the quality of health care and developing a new, more professional nursing leadership.

Since 2000, AKU SONAM EA has offered diploma and undergraduate upgrading programmes.

AKU SONAM EA currently offers the Enrolled Nurse to Registered Nurse Diploma and Bachelor of Science in Nursing upgrading programmes. In order to provide educational opportunities close to students’ home communities, these programmes are based out of three teaching hubs: Nairobi, Kenya; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Kampala, Uganda.

In 2001, AKU SONAM EA became the first institution in East Africa to offer working nurses the opportunity to enhance their nursing qualifications, using an innovative curricular approach that enables practicing nurses to earn a degree while working. Through its dynamic model of professional education, the programme builds on the knowledge, skills and experience that individual nurses bring to it.

The impact of AKU SONAM is evidenced in the successes of its alumni. Since 2001, over 1600 nurses have graduated across East Africa. The majority of these nurses were promoted on completion of their studies, and many now hold key positions in nursing education, policy and practice throughout Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this programme is that over 85 percent of its graduates stay in their countries.

Research

Faculty at the School of Nursing and Midwifery has a strong commitment to research. Research areas include maternal and child health, community and school health, HIV and AIDS, nursing education and family planning. Faculty research capacity is enhanced through collaboration with AKU’s partner universities such as the University of Alberta.

Partnerships and Collaboration

AKU SONAM EA works in collaboration with key partners which include McMaster University, University of Alberta, University of California San Francisco and AKU-SONAM Karachi.

The Institution’s ability to provide the highest quality programmes and facilitate clinical experiences that are fundamental to the students’ education is further made possible by ongoing support from the Ministries of Health, Nursing Councils, Nursing Associations and several national health institutions.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson have supported the Enrolled Nurse to Registered Nurse upgrading Diploma programme since 2001. With their generous support, the university has broadened its reach in developing the professional skills of nursing students and increasing nursing capacity.

Lundin Foundation for Africa

The Canadian-based Lundin Foundation for Africa has supported Aga Khan University since 2009, through funding targeted at increasing rural health workers’ access to nursing and midwifery education programmes and skills training. This funding has contributed to improved outreach and expanded access to health care through upgrading and continuing education programmes offered to nurses in Kaloleni and Kwale districts in coastal Kenya. The Enrolled Nurse to Registered Nurse (EN-RN) upgrading Diploma programme is offered in Kaloleni in partnerships with Saint Luke’s Mission Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya and the Kenyan Ministry of Health. So far 42 nurses from the coast region are enrolled on the EN-RN programme. Another 120 nurses have participated in the continuing education programmes offered in Kwale, Kenya.

USAID

Eighteen nurses in Mtwara and Lindi Districts in southern Tanzania received training from Aga Khan University Advanced Nursing Studies, Tanzania (ANS) under the USAID funded Tanzania Human Resource Project (THRP). This training enabled the selected Enrolled Nurses become Registered Nurses (EN-RN) through a Conversion Diploma Programme. The aim of the project was to enable the districts to provide quality services with trained personnel. The ANS programme was chosen by the district as part of the Comprehensive Council Health Plan, to provide professional development opportunities to enrolled nurses in the district as a retention mechanism.

Rotary Foundation

Aga Khan University and Rotary International have formed a strategic partnership focused towards improving Maternal and Child Health in East Africa. Through the partnership, the Rotary Foundation – the charitable arm of Rotary International – will provide scholarships and mentorship for nursing and midwifery students at Aga Khan University Advanced Nursing Studies. The Foundation will also provide grants to Rotary clubs to establish volunteer teams to support the professional development of nursing faculty at AKU’s East Africa campuses in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Rotary Foundation, under its new Future Vision plan, has forged strategic partnerships with Aga Khan University.

M E D I C A L C O L L E G E
Operational since 2004

At AKU our medical students become skillful health care practitioners and influential humanitarians. We ground classroom theory in the latest research and educate students to better understand local health care challenges in the developing world and positively advance public health care policy in response.

Founded in Pakistan, AKU’s Postgraduate Medical Education programme was expanded to Kenya and Tanzania in 2004, and has grown to offer nine residency programmes leading to a Master of Medicine degree across 8 departments.

The objective of the programme is to develop specialists who will have far reaching impact on the development of healthcare systems in their respective countries.

The programme emphasises self-directed learning, formative assessment and role modelling as a means of facilitating experience-based learning for its residents. For East Africa, this initiative has helped address the “brain drain” issue, increasing the number of qualified specialists available in the region.

Research at the Medical College focuses on the key health issues facing the developing world, including infectious and non-communicable diseases, undernutrition, and maternal and child health. More recently, researchers at AKU have conducted research on cardiovascular disease, cancer, liver and kidney disease, molecular and genetic medicine.

The Faculty of Health Sciences is planning undergraduate medical education in East Africa. An innovative curriculum delivered within six years will see the new intake of secondary/high school graduates take liberal arts in the first two years of their study to be followed by four years of clinical education.

The programme will be co-delivered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences situated in Arusha, Tanzania and the Faculty of Health Sciences situated in Nairobi, Kenya. The first cohort of students is expected to begin in 2015.

A G A K H A N U N I V E R S I T Y H O S P I T A L , N A I R O B I
Operational since 1958

The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi is a private, not-for-profit institute that provides tertiary and secondary level health care services. The main hospital campus is located in the Parklands area of Nairobi, and has several Medical and Diagnostic Centres throughout Kenya.

Dedicated staff, advanced facilities and state-of-the-art technologies have earned AKUH, N a reputation as a leading medical institution and teaching hospital in the region, and beyond.

In July 2003, AKUH,N became the first hospital in East Africa to be awarded the prestigious ISO 9001:2000 by the International Organization for Standardization, which is awarded to organisations that are found to conform fully to standards set for quality management systems.
Two years later, in 2005, the Hospital was upgraded to a tertiary level teaching facility in response to the health care needs of the people of East Africa, and since then has set the standard for modern medical education in East Africa, increased its clinical capacity and made significant improvements to its facilities.

The Hospital serves as the teaching site for the Aga Khan University’s Medical College and School of Nursing and Midwifery, with an emphasis on evidence-based approach to medicine, driven by the cutting-edge research of experienced faculty members.

The Medical College offers fresh graduates postgraduate medical education programmes leading to a Master of Medicine degree. Programmes are four years in length and give students the opportunity to specialise in nine disciplines across eight departments.

For practicing nurses, the School of Nursing and Midwifery offers the opportunity to further their career by upgrading their skills and qualifications in a practical setting, without an extended absence from the workplace.

For practicing medical professionals, the continuing medical education programmes keep them up-to-date on the most current medical knowledge and relevant professional skills. Continuing medical education at AKUH,N provides an opportunity to learn about and apply the most recent medical research to patient care. It also allows professionals to become a part of a dynamic community of practice that fosters collaboration between medical professionals from numerous local and international healthcare institutions.

In July 2011, it established a US$ 50 million Heart and Cancer Centre, which is offering complete cardiac and cancer services comparable to the best centres in the West.

The modern, purpose-built Heart and Cancer Centre includes specialised cardiac operating theatres, three separate intensive care units—one dedicated to open-heart surgeries—and the latest radiation therapy equipment for cancer treatment.

These facilities allow internationally trained specialists to provide locals with advanced diagnostic, rehabilitative, therapeutic care for heart and cancer diseases.

AKUH, N’s Patient Welfare Programme also offers financial assistance to uninsured and low-income patients who would otherwise be unable to afford the medical care they require.

Other community investment initiatives include donations in crises situations, cancer support groups, breast clinics and medical camps at community levels. Some of these programmes are strategically planned such as PWP; others occur at an annual basis such as medical camps in slums; and others activities take place in the case of crises.

An example of this is the donation of medical supplies given to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) when victims of a massive fire in Sinai Slum needed medical treatment but KNH was ill-equipped to provide sufficient treatment. These projects, which are supported by finances form the hospital and donors. Staff members involvement in expertise or service is purely voluntarily.

Currently the University Hospital is working towards achieving the Joint Commission Of International accreditation (JCIA) that has over 3000 standards to be met.

Its future strategic direction includes expansion of facility to 600 beds and the doctors plaza; increasing the patient welfare programme and offering fellowship training for cardiology and Oncology.

I N S T I T U T E F O R E D U C A T I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T ,
E A S T A F R I C A
Operational since 2006

The Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, East Africa (AKU-IED, EA), contributes to the socio-economic development of the region by improving the quality of education through human resource development, institutional capacity building and research.

The Institute delivers a flagship Master of Education programme and provides continuing professional development through the Centre for Continuing Education and Life Long Learning (CELL).

In a short span of time, it has become one of the leading centers in East Africa for providing diverse programmes designed for the professional development of educators and it draws participants from different countries in the region including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and welcomes students and scholars internationally. The core guiding principles for all their work are quality, relevance, access and impact.

Academic Programmes
Graduate programmes
The Master of Education (MEd) is currently a two-year full-time postgraduate degree programme and offers specialisations a number of areas including Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Management and Early Childhood Education. The programme aims to inculcate reflective practice and critical thinking. Being hands-on the programme also has a practicum component under which students are required to spend time in schools teaching, conducting small-scale inquiries and organising workshops. From 2014 this programme will be offered as a one-year full time programme with a part-time option.
The rigorous entrance process of the programme ensures that the students recruited are of the highest calibre. Many of the graduates have gone on to hold prestigious positions within the education and government sectors while others are heads of schools and teacher colleges. In 2012, students enrolled in the MEd programme were either fully or partly funded through government, other external agencies and AKU scholarships.

Centre for Continuing Education and Life Long Learning
The Aga Khan University’s Centre for Continuing Education and Life Long Learning (CELL) in East Africa delivers programmes specifically designed to meet educational training needs across a range of subject areas. Through the programmes they support the development of professionals that work in education across the region, working towards raising quality by providing guidance and mentorship, transferring knowledge and skills, and developing expertise. CELL offers an exceptional Certificate in Education programme, several Short Courses and Workshops in a range of specialisations that include Educational Leadership & Management; Teaching & Learning; Science, Mathematics, English and Social Studies; Assessment, Early Childhood Education; Early Years Literacy; and ICT in Education.

These programmes benefit primary and secondary school educators and government level educators, which include teachers, head teachers, teacher educators, school managers and administrators, local and national Government educational leaders and early years practitioners. These programmes are tailor-made and flexible. Through these courses AKUIED, EA meets educational needs across East Africa working extensively with several relevant stakeholders to ensure that all programmes are delivered to make a direct impact on the quality of teaching and on the local communities themselves.

Research
Research is an integral component of the Institute’s work. It investigates core issues of quality in educational systems, educational achievement and the factors that impact standards of education. Research at IED, EA contributes to the transformation of policy and practice of education in East Africa and is concentrated in the following two multidisciplinary Research Networks.

Multi-Literacy in Multilingual Education Research Network (MIME)
Schools and classrooms globally are increasingly multilingual in nature so monolingual classrooms are not necessarily a norm. While reasons for multilingualism vary , in East Africa, this is not simply because of a wide range of local/regional African language backgrounds of the teachers and learners, it is also because of the policies of language instruction in the region mandate that teaching and learning processes are often in the second or third language of the learner. The MIME network is the intellectual home for research focused on the improving basic education especially the development of multiple literacies in multilingual contexts. Here, literacy is not limited to the traditional concept of reading and writing of print materials. It is a holistic and complex notion of literacies that embrace scientific, mathematical and ICT literacies as well as language and literacy.

Inclusion and Equity in Education Research Network (InEED)
Improving access to quality education invariably raises issues of inclusion and equity so that all learners can access quality education irrespective of gender, HIV-AIDS status or other forms of exclusion. This Network focuses on issues of equity and inclusion within the multilingual contexts of education and more broadly. Researchers working within this network are investigating approaches to teaching controversial and sensitive issues, concerns of social justice in, for example the language of instruction and effective learning, gender issues related to access, quality and achievement in basic education, students’ experience of seeking teachers’ help in classrooms, contextually relevant approaches to early childhood care and education and provision for gifted and talented students in mathematics.

Within each Research Network there are Research Interest Groups as follows:

Special Interest Group In Mathematics and Science Education (SIGMAS)
ICT Research and Development Group
Early Years Education
Educational Leadership, Gender and Participation

Partners in Education
IED, EA maintains local and international institutional partnerships and close working ties with the governments of the countries in the region in which it operates. This includes a Memorandum of Understanding with the governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Institute has visiting faculty from the University of British Columbia, Canada and welcomes interns from the University of Alberta, an institution with which it maintains a long standing relationship.

IED, EA and the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta also won the Student for Development Award funded by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (http://www.aucc.ca/programs-services/international-programs/students-for-development/).

The Institute is also involved in collaborative academic work with a number of other institutions such as Mzumbe University, Tanzania; The Open University, Tanzania; Centre for Mathematics Science Technology Education East Africa, Kenya; University of Calgary, Canada; University of Cambridge, UK; and University of Oxford, UK.

The faculty exists already – a campus is being built

Faculty of Health Sciences (AKU-FHS)