Adventist University of Central Africa

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines for companies and organizations. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Adventist University of Central Africa" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Seventh-day Adventist Church
History Christianity Protestantism Millerism Great Disappointment 1888 General Conference
Theology 28 Fundamental Beliefs Pillars Three Angels' Messages Sabbath Eschatology Pre-Second Advent Judgment Premillennialism Conditional immortality Remnant
Organization General Conference Divisions East-Central Africa Division Euro-Asia Division Inter-American Division Inter-European Division North American Division Northern Asia-Pacific Division Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division South American Division South Pacific Division Southern Asia Division Southern Asia-Pacific Division Trans-European Division West-Central Africa Division
Periodicals Adventist Review Signs of the Times List of Ellen White writings
Service Adventist Development and Relief Agency Maranatha Volunteers International Pathfinders Adventurers Medical Cadet Corps Seventh-day Adventist education Secondary schools Colleges and universities Hospitals
Media ministries Hope Channel Loma Linda Broadcasting Network It Is Written Voice of Prophecy Three Angels Broadcasting Network Amazing Facts
People Ellen G. White James S. White Joseph Bates J. N. Andrews Uriah Smith J. H. Kellogg James Caleb Jackson W. C. White F. D. Nichol M. L. Andreasen Le Roy Froom Arthur L. White George Vandeman H. M. S. Richards Edward Heppenstall Herbert E. Douglass Morris Venden Samuele Bacchiocchi E. E. Cleveland Walter Veith Mark Finley
Adventism
v t e

The Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA) also called in French: Universite Adventiste d'Afrique Central is a Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher learning near two campuses in Kigali, Rwanda.^[1] It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.^[2][3][4][5]

AUCA is the largest Adventist University serving the French speaking parts of Africa.^[6] In 2015, it had about 4,000 students.^[7]

Adventist University of Central Africa was established in 1978, but officially opened on 15 October 1984. The school closed in 1994 due to political unrest, but was reestablished in 1996 in Kigali.^[8]

Initially the campus was located at Mudende, in Gisenyi prefecture (one component of the current Western Province). The University grew for 10 years until the start of Rwandan genocide (April 94 – July 94). During the genocide there was a general breakdown in law and order, and the Mudende campus was looted by the local population, the military, militias, and even AUCA staff before they fled. After the killing stopped, the vacant campus became “a sort of no man’s land” for several years and the Mudende campus was stripped of anything removable.^[8]

At the end of 1996, the campus became a shelter for the first influx of Zairian refugees from nearby Kibumba (DRC). Although a few months later the Zairian refugees returned home, a larger group of refugees took over the campus, further stripping it of salable items and destroying fixed assets like washrooms. Conflict during the period 1997-99 saw additional looting.^[8]

The University started negotiations with the Rwandan government in 1999 to sell the government the Mudende campus but it was not until 2003 that an agreement was reached. Finally in February 2006 the former campus the Government of Rwanda, represented by its Ministry of Defense, took over the old campus as a base for the Rwanda Defense Forces.^[8]

The University reopened in 1996 using modest buildings and with limited course offerings. The 1.7 ha campus was not deemed large enough for a proper university so a search commenced for a larger site. 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. After a two and a half year effort, the science center was inaugurated on 11 February 2015 by the President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.^[8] The new building contains 24 classrooms which can each hold 40 to 60 students, all with fully networked, digitally responsive whiteboards that facilitate presentations and the instant archiving of lecture notes.^[7]

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. Paving and other buildings followed.^[8]

As of 2015 AUCA offers both undergraduate and masters level programs in the following areas:^[9]

• Faculty of Business Administration
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Information Technology
• School Of Medicine

• Master of Education
• Master of Business Administration MBA
• Masters of Science in Administration: International Development Program

A research center within AUCA publishes the Journal of Inter-Discourse Academia (JIDA).^[10][11]

• John Williams Ntwali, Rwandan investigative journalist (2005)^[12]

• List of Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities
• Seventh-day Adventist education

• Official website