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Top government officials attend graduation.
The University of William Booth, located in Kinshasa in the Congo and Angola Territory, is the only Salvationist university in Africa. The university, situated in Barumbu next to The Salvation Army’s Central Corps, has seen tremendous growth, giving it a current student population of 1,120, with 48 professors and lecturers, and 26 assistants.
Early this September, many top government and private sector officials gathered at Salle Centrale Corps in Kinshasa to attend the graduation day of students of The Salvation Army William Booth University. A capacity crowd came to witness the culminating event of the academic year.
Officials of the university entered the hall, along with the government representative of the Minister of Further Education and Universities; Territorial Commander Commissioner Stuart Mungate, as president (chancellor) of the university, led the procession. The graduates were already seated, waiting to collect their degrees.
Mungate challenged the graduates and spoke about the aim of The Salvation Army in setting up William Booth University in Congo—this aim cannot be separated from the goal of human development. He said that human beings must be developed to be able to deal with the evils that beset men and women in society. Academic education must equip students to combat hunger, disease, war, ignorance and darkness. Governments and the private sector alike have been infiltrated by people with “slave mentality,” according to the chancellor.
Graduates who engage at work but never develop the attitude of ownership of their place of work will have a mindset akin to that of a slave, who does not care about anything. Mungate encouraged the graduands to develop a love for their country and stop looking for greener pastures abroad. Congo, he said, needs employers, not job seekers, and is waiting for educated people who can exploit its God-given, abundant natural resources to benefit the suffering masses impoverished by ignorance. In closing, he said that a university education without the knowledge of God is empty; real education is knowing the Lord.
Qualifying students then received their degrees: the Faculty of Law had 11 graduates and the Economic Science Faculty had eight. There are no short cuts at William Booth University and no compromising of standards, which has given it a countrywide reputation in the eyes of both the public and the government. It is ranked number five out of 46 recognized universities in the country, and its graduates are sought after everywhere because of their high standards. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo presented the university with a certificate of merit, which Mungate accepted on behalf of the university. The government representative of the Ministry of Universities praised the university for its performance and dedication.
From a Salvation Army international news release