The Aga Khan University will offer three new degree programmes in Kenya from August 2020: Executive Master’s in Media Leadership and Innovation; Master of Science in Advanced Practice Midwifery; and Master of Science in Advanced Practice Nursing.
The Commission for University Education, CUE, has given approval for these programmes attesting to AKU’s programmatic growth as it seeks to create leaders in professions and communities from where its students are drawn.
AKU’s Graduate School of Media and Communications, GSMC, will offer the Executive Master’s in Media Leadership and Innovation, a unique course that will support visionary leadership and enhance capacity to discover innovative solutions to current and future problems.
“Consultations with media leaders across East Africa reveal high level of interest in a master’s level programme, which focuses on capacity building for technology, business acumen, content development and improvement, visual and graphic development, linkages between traditional media outlets and digital platforms, and personnel management and infrastructures,” said Dr Alex Awiti, interim dean at GSMC.
Dr Awiti noted that there are very few programmes offering media management education and training across the globe, despite the real need for education in this area. In Africa, apart from the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University in South Africa (which offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Media Leadership), no other university in the continent offers specialised education for media executives.
“The Executive Master’s in Media Leadership and Innovation that AKU proposes to offer is designed to address the unique and complex challenges facing media in Kenya, East Africa and Africa,” Dr Awiti added. “The design of the program is informed by complementary programmes and activities offered by the Graduate School of Media and Communications.”
The two new advanced master’s programmes in nursing and midwifery will enable healthcare professionals to develop innovative, practical solutions to complex health problems from a scientific perspective.
“Advanced Practitioner Nurse, APN, roles are expanding globally as health workforces respond to 21st century health needs. As populations expand and age, governments are increasingly looking to the nursing workforce to meet health service demand and population needs,” said Dr Eunice Ndirangu, interim dean at AKU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. “The Advanced Practice programme we are proposing is a timely response to population health needs, healthcare costs and practitioners’ willingness to expand their scope of practice through enhanced responsibility, accountability and professional autonomy. The APN programme will be responsive to the health needs of the country and contribute towards achieving universal health coverage and the Big Four Agenda in Kenya.”
The proposed programme will be among the first of its kind in the region and will be benchmarked against national and international standards. It will foster and develop nurses who can deliver significant health outcomes for whole communities and contribute to the evidence base for approaches in their given fields of research and practice.
