Founded in 1978, the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA) offers a Christian holistic education, operating on the basis of the Seventh-day Adventist view.
It took a long time for Rwanda to acquire a Seventh-day Adventist Church-owned university. The idea of establishing a university for French-speaking African countries started early in 1966 by the then President of the Trans-Africa Division (TAD), Pastor Robert Pierson, at that time based in former southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe), at Salisbury, currently Harare. However, the idea was implemented by his successor, Pastor Merle Mills.
There were many consultative meetings to found the university and the location to implant it.
Early Years and Establishment
In 1921 Henri Monnier, from Switzerland, and Alfred Matter opened Rwankeri Mission Station, northern Rwanda. After spending one year trying to establish a mission station at Kawangire in the east, they moved to the north. At Rwankeri Mission, Henri Monnier faced many problems, among which were lions killing people and their cattle.
He protected the population by shooting the lions, which caused the people around to love him and accept his message. Contrary to other missionaries, he learned the local language and culture. He published a popular grammar book of the Kinyarwanda language for English speaking missionaries and also translated passages of the Bible, hymns, the baptismal manual, and Adventist doctrines into Kinyarwanda. The first baptism took place in 1924 with two candidates, Yohana Ruvugihomvu and Petero Rukangarajunga.
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Because of the efforts of missionaries, the work grew. Members increased so much that when it became necessary to build a university for French speaking members, Rwanda was chosen. The university was first established in northern Rwanda in 1978 to serve the Francophone constituency of the then Africa-Indian Ocean Division which included the French-speaking countries of western and central Africa, namely, Zaire, Rwanda, and Burundi, as well as Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius, and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. The university officially opened its doors on October 15, 1984.
The board of directors was made up of 23 members representing the division, each Francophone union, the North Rwanda Association, and the Adventist Seminary of West Africa. The president of the division was the board chair, and the president of the Rwanda Union Mission the vice chair. The university was chartered in 1988 and became the first Adventist university to be chartered on the African continent. At that time the university was located at Mudende, in the former Mutura Commune, Gisenyi Prefecture, in northwestern Rwanda on 290 acres (118 hectares) overlooking beautiful Lake Kivu. It was located on the slopes of Mount Karisimbi, an extinct volcano that frequently was crowned with a light blanket of snow.
In all directions there was a beautiful panorama of mountains. To the west, across the western arm of the Great African Valley, in which Lake Kivu is located, the Mitumba Mountains in DRC can be seen.
Initially, the university had seven faculties: business administration (accounting and information management); sciences (math-physics, biology and chemistry, human biology and public health); education (educational psychology); technology (A1); agriculture; languages (French and English), and theology.
Challenges and Relocation
During the Rwanda genocide against Tutsis (1990-1994), there was a general breakdown in law and order, and the Mudende campus was damaged and looted. Following the genocide of 1994, AUCA temporarily suspended its activities until May 7, 1996 when the university reopened its doors on a transitional site at Gishushu, in Kigali City. At that time, the university could only run three of its original seven faculties (schools), namely: business administration, educational sciences, and theology.
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The 1.7 ha campus was not deemed large enough for a proper university, so a search commenced for a larger site, which was found at Masoro. Many of the local people helped in building the university and a considerable amount of local material was used for the building of the university. A site was set up close to the university grounds where a large kiln was built. Wooden forms were made and the red clay earth of that area was mixed with water, poured into the brick forms, and set out in the sun to dry before being fired in the outdoor kiln.
These were the bricks used for constructing all of the buildings and faculty houses on campus. Also, the volcanic rocks found everywhere on the campus land were used for constructing beautiful stone walls. Local people were hired to hand hammer the jagged volcanic rocks into smooth blocks that could be used for building walls all over campus. Construction of the central building on the new campus took nearly two years to complete.
Nine years later, the university was relocated to its current site at Masoro, on land measuring 22 hectares on the outskirts of Kigali.
On May 12, 2005, Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide conducted the groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the academic central block. Thereafter, a conference hall with a capacity of approximately 1500 persons was the first priority. Its construction began in February 2009 and was completed in September 2011, in which it was inaugurated by the ministry of the local government and high ranking officers of the Division.
This multipurpose hall enables the university to gather the entire student population for various forums, such as academic gatherings, general assemblies, weeks of prayer, Sabbath services, and conferences of all types. Masoro and Gishushu campuses are connected to other parts of the city of Kigali by two paved roads built by the ministry of infrastructure. However the strategic location of Gishushu resulted in the school building a Science Centre and Technology there. Ground breaking occurred on March 8, 2012 with the Prime Minister of Rwanda and the President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in attendance.
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With proceeds from the sale of Mudende and church appropriations, a 22 ha site was secured for a new campus within sight of Kigali's International Airport. Construction of the new campus began on 12 May 2005 with ground breaking for the central academic block. Construction on a 2000-seat multi-purpose conference hall began in February 2009 and was completed in September 2011.
Campuses and Programs
The university operates across three campuses and offers degree programmes across five faculties: theology, health sciences, business administration, information technology, and education. Both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes can be studied, as well as professional courses such as English language proficiency, and certified ethical hacking. All of the university’s degree programmes are taught through in English. Students come from across Rwanda and five other countries. AUCA has three campuses: two in Kigali the capital - Masoro campus (Main), Gishushu campus for Science and Technology, and Ngoma Nursing campus in the Western Province.
A third campus of the university, Ngoma Adventist College of Health Sciences, which opened in October 2015, is located at Ngoma in the western province, on the renovated premises of the former Ngoma Adventist Nursing School, alongside Mugonero Adventist Hospital. It currently hosts nursing and midwifery programs. The nursing program of AUCA was approved by the Higher Education Council (HEC) of the Ministry of Education of the Government of Rwanda, and on Friday, March 20, 2015, the ministers’ cabinet meeting, which was chaired by the President of the Republic of Rwanda, approved the nursing program of Ngoma campus. Recent discussions among AUCA, Rwanda Union Mission, and East Central Africa Division centered around “resurrecting” the nursing education program.
The initiative had its origins at the Ngoma facility with the Rwandan government encouraging its development at that site in services to those communities of the region. The Rwandan government encouraged AUCA to develop a program in medicine. Realizing the cost implications, the university administration took the government’s request to the East Central Africa Division for counsel. In response, the Division Executive Committee, with the approval of the General Conference, decided to build a Division medical school at AUCA.
On September 2, 2019 a state-of-the-art medical school was inaugurated by the President of the General Conference, Dr. Ted Wison and His Excellency, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. The medical school is to cater primarily to students within east-central and southern Africa territories, and the world at large. The government has offered AUCA clinical training sites at the busy provincial hospital in Ruhengeri, close to both the Uganda and Congo borders.
The medical school is designed to become a center of excellence in the region, serving 11 countries, including Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Djibouti. It has several facilities, such as the Adrian Paul Cooper Science Complex, which will host nine laboratories of anatomy, physiology, immunology, microbiology, parasitology, biochemistry, and histo-pathology. The buildings are the first phase of a larger project that the Church is undertaking in Rwanda.
AUCA is the first private university to be established in Rwanda, and it enjoys a track record reputation in quality teaching since then, locally and regionally. AUCA hosts one of the prestigious medical schools, the Adventist School of Medicine of East-Central Africa (ASOME), at its Masoro campus in Kigali city.
“Our mission is to support your mission at every level of the church,” Adventist University of Africa (AUA) vice chancellor Vincent Injety said at the beginning of his report during the West-Central Africa Division (WAD) Year-End Meetings on October 30. “The reason our mission is to support your mission is not just giving you moral support; it’s not lip service,” Injety emphasized in his report.
AUA, based in Ongata Rongai, Kenya, currently has 483 students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, Injety reported. Out of those, 112 students come from WAD countries.
Injety reminded WAD representatives that of the 54 countries on the African continent, 21 are in the francophone region. One of the reasons AUA has not had many French-speaking students is that instruction takes place in English, Injety said.
“CUE has approved for AUA to teach in the French language,” Injety said. He added that the school has already recruited three professors, and it will start offering the degree on the campus of Cosendai Adventist University in Cameroon. “We want to thank the division for coming along and supporting and participating in this venture,” Injety said.
In the last part of his report, Injety shared some data about AUA students, noting that the school, which is organized primarily around its seminary, has an 86 percent male student population. Also, 96 percent of students are Adventist members, and only 34 percent are church-sponsored (the remaining 66 percent are self-sponsored students).
He also shared that presently, their most popular programs are the school’s Master of Divinity, Master of Arts (biblical and theological studies), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and Doctor of Ministry (D. Injety also reported that after a May 2023 visit of government accrediting bodies, the institution received a quality audit certificate for the next five years. “By the grace of God, the recommendations they gave do not conflict with the program of the church,” Injety said.
For 12 years, AUA has offered a master’s in public health, and many people were asking when a doctoral degree in the area would be available. Now a doctorate in public health has been authorized, Injety reported. Injety also shared that on average, AUA graduates 70 students a year with master’s and doctoral degrees. Since the first graduation in 2008 (AUA opened its doors in 2006), the school has graduated 925 students, including 320 students from the WAD, he said.
Tuition and Programs
Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA) offers courses and programs leading to officially recognized higher education degrees in several areas of study. The following Fields of Study/Degree Levels Matrix of Adventist University of Central Africa is divided into 6 main fields of study and 4 levels of degrees, from the lowest undergraduate degree to the highest postgraduate degree.
Yearly tuition fees refers to the amount of money that a student is charged by a University for one academic year of full-time study. Applying for admission is the first step towards achieving students' academic and career goals and accessing the many opportunities and resources that a university has to offer. Christian-Protestant.
University size and profile can be important factors to consider when choosing a university.
Our Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History, International Relations, and Public Policy provides a rich, interdisciplinary exploration of history, policy-making, and international affairs-all essential for today’s interconnected world. We equip students to think critically, ask meaningful questions, and lead thoughtfully."
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