UCU Digital Institutional Repository(UCUDIR)
Welcome to the Uganda Christian University Digital Institutional Repositoy (UCUDIR). This is the University's official Institutional Repository. It aims to collect, preserve and showcase the intellectual output of staff and students of UCU. This growing collection of research includes peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, working papers, theses, and more.
- The Repository ingests documents, audio, video, datasets and their corresponding Dublin Core metadata
- The aim is to open up this content to local and global audiences, with have optimized well for Google Scholar so your items here shows up on Google Scholar searches
- we also issue permanent urls and trustworthy identifiers, including optional integrations with handle.net and DataCite DOI
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Communities in UCUDIR
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Items in this community present a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make decisions about, government policies.
- This is a collection of Masters and Doctoral theses and dissertations submitted in electronic format to the Uganda Christian University.
Recent Submissions
Uganda’s Post‐colonial Privatisation Policy in Higher Education: An Integrative Literature Review and Case Study Analysis
(Discover Education, 2026-02-02) Allan Muganga; Oluwasegun Adesola Oladipo; Michael Agyemang Adarkwah
Globally, the trend toward privatizing higher education has been accelerating, driven by economic and policy shifts. Uganda has aligned with this movement, becoming one of the African countries implementing privatization to enhance
accessibility and efficiency in its universities. However, the benefits and challenges of higher education privatization in Uganda remain underexplored. This study assesses them through two private universities as case studies. An integrative literature review identified challenges in Uganda’s privatization policy. This was followed by qualitative interviews with sixteen (16) stakeholders (students, n=10; parents, n=3; employers, n=3) to assess its impact on accessibility, quality, funding, and employment. Semi-structured interviews involving students, parents, and employers revealed that although
the policy led to the massification of higher education, it also led to the commodification and academisation of education, whereby business principles have been imported into the country’s higher education sector, thus focusing more on profit maximisation other than quality education delivery. The study recommends that the Ugandan government and policymakers, such as the Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Council for Higher Education, do more to safeguard the education system from being too commercialised, commodified, and over-marketised.
Is Everywhere I Go Home? Reflections on the Acculturation Journey Of African International Students in China
(International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2026-02-02) Allan Muganga; Yohana Kifle Mekonen; Michael Agyemang Adarkwah; Oluwasegun A. Oladipo; Chiamaka Nneoma Nweze; , Saira Bibi
This qualitative study explores the acculturation journey of African international students in China, focusing on the evolution of their experiences. While previous research has often overlooked the progressive nature of international students, particularly from Africa, this study addresses this gap by examining how these students navigate academic, cultural, and psychological challenges over time. Using a conceptual framework informed by existing acculturation theories, the study identified six key dimensions shaping the acculturation process. Fifteen African international students, aged 25–36 years, with lengths of stay ranging from 4 to 7 years, were selected
from three research-intensive universities in China. The findings reveal that early acculturation stress, including challenges like language barriers and culture shock, significantly impacts these students’ psychological well-being and makes securing internships more difficult. However, students who accessed strong peer networks and received supervisor support demonstrated better coping strategies and higher satisfaction by their final year. This study shows that acculturation is a dynamic process and suggests that educational institutions should improve support systems to better support the well-being and academic success of international students.
Students’ Perceptions of Project-based Learning in K-12 Education: A Synthesis of Qualitative Evidence
(International Journal of Instruction, 2026-02-02) Frederick Oduro; Allan Muganga; Deborah Parker; Guoyuan Sang
As an engaging instructional approach, project-based learning has gained
prominence as a means of adapting K-12 education to a changing world. However, research assessing the effectiveness of project-based learning has primarily focused on teachers, whereas studies on students' perceptions of project-based learning have been limited to isolated cases. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive synthesis of qualitative and mixed-approach studies that investigated K-12 students’ perceptions of project-based learning. A meta-ethnography approach was employed to identify, evaluate, and combine the findings of the 14 peer-reviewed studies. These studies were selected based on an extensive search of databases such as Web of Science, ERIC, and ScienceDirect. Six themes were identified to reflect K-12 students’ perceptions of project-based learning: enhancing 21st-century skills, enhancing enthusiastic engagement, fostering interdisciplinary integration, time consumption, evoking initial jitter, and content insufficiency. Additionally, two research gaps were identified, with the majority of studies conducted among senior high school students in Europe and Asia. In conclusion, this synthesis highlights the effectiveness of project-based
learning in promoting essential contemporary skills. However, caution is advised regarding challenges, such as content insufficiency. Stakeholders should consider targeted support and resource adequacy to optimize project-based learning benefits for diverse students.
The Impact of Online Learning on International Students' Studies Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic During the 2020 Spring Semester: A Case Study of Southwest University
(Asian Journal of Education and e-Learning, 2026-02-02) Muganga Allan; Naomy Kalabwa Leah; Tebatso Namanyane; Mirajur Rhaman Shaoan
Toward the end of 2019 and since the beginning of 2020, there has been a worldwide collapse of the pandemic disease called covid-19 that caused a complete shutdown in several countries. As a result, schools, universities and other institutions of higher learning were forced to close. The only way learning could take place was through online learning. Unplanned online learning brought uncertainty among institutions, educators and learners
which needs to be examined. The purpose of this case study was therefore to explore how online learning during the COVID-19 period influenced SWU international students’ studies, and to understand the attitude of these
international students toward online learning during the covid-19 period and finally finding out strategies that SWU international students used to tackle the challenges they encountered through online learning. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted among twelve international students offering different online courses. Researchers used content analysis to help them arrive at findings and conclusions. Results from the research showed that poor network connectivity, limited class participations were among the strongest themes to address the first research question. Passion for learning and apathy of online learning were among the themes under students’ attitude. Strategies used to cope up with the challenges faced included prior class preparations and seeking better internet connectivity showed up.
Manifestations of the Ujamaa Intersections Model in Promoting Quality of Life for Children and Achieving SDGs through Ubuntu Stance: Lessons from the Parasocial Work Model in Tanzania
(International Multilingual Journal of Science and Technology, 2025-07-07) Jackline Bwire Achan; Meinrad Haule Lembuka
The child’s quality of life has been an agenda in the evolution of human societies worldwide, and the emergence of child rights abuse in the 19th century posed a serious concern to its realisation. At the dawn of the 21st century, the quality of life for children became part of the global agenda, encompassing the Sustainable Development Goals. For Africa, Ubuntu has been a historical, philosophical, and practical framework that is relevant to the quality of life for children. Post-colonial Tanzania adopted the Ujamaa Intersections Model within the Ubuntu framework to align with its agenda. In the 1990s,
Tanzania experienced a notable decline in the quality of life of children due to economic hardship, urbanisation, population growth, and family separations. On the other hand, the incompatibility of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and the Ujamaa National Policy Framework distorted the available Ubuntu mechanism of child welfare. As a result, the incursion of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic was further exposed to high risks of losing their quality of life. In the 2000s, the Tanzanian government engaged various stakeholders to (re)establish community-based interventions aimed at upholding the quality of life, including a cadre of para-social workers (PSWs) that combined social work and Ubuntu competencies. The initiation and operation of PSW are integrated within the Ujamaa system, alongside social work and Ubuntu principles, enabling existing community structures, such as
families, extended families, neighbourhoods, local leadership, ecology, and spirituality, to realise the child’s quality of life. PSW contributed to the identification of the specific needs of vulnerable children, increased community awareness of child
protection, established alert systems for abused children, and, when required, supported the provision of referrals to temporary or long-term alternative care, either formal or informal. Despite challenges, PSWs successfully advocated for
children's rights and improved the lives of children and their families. Their efforts have demonstrated how Ubuntu can provide relevant and sustainable solutions to address the quality of life for children. Therefore, it serves as an alarm for the
child's quality of life, prompting interested parties to revisit and adopt Ubuntu approaches to achieving the SDGs by 2030 and beyond.