University Courses and Career Development

It was on a Sunday, May 17, 2009, that the news spread all over the Country -Makerere University, the biggest University in Uganda, released the names of those privileged to be sponsored by the government starting this year 2009.

Normally those are the students that excelled in their A’ level exams. In total the government sponsors about 4,000 students in every year.

At times, however, the university offers students the courses that they never wanted to do. Some students take the courses all the same, others, just refuse and opt to do other courses.

Many people believe that for one to be successful, they must do certain courses. I too believed so until completed University.

I believed in the traditional courses of Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and Education. Like many people, I believed that a sure way to head for failure was to join university to undertake any other course but the traditional courses.

But after graduating, I realized that no matter the course taken, whether the traditional courses or the modern courses such as Information Technology, success depends more on the personal character of the person than the course they pursued at University.

Many organizations don’t even want to know which university one went too, all they need is the person to have the skills required. They will hire and pay for the skill not the level of education or the status of the university one went too. Others will pay for the skill coupled with personal character of the individual. In short, the personal character of an individual really counts more than the status of the university.

And due to competition, thousands of students undertake the same courses. This provides a fertile recruitment base where employers make judgments of who to employ based on the grades obtained as well as the personal character of the individual. And since thousands of students graduate every year, it’s the character of each individual that will determine.

In conclusion, personal character, skills obtained and great grades are more important than the course one undertakes or the status of the University. With the right character for any particular job, a candidate will definitely be successful.