On July 16, 2010, the Uganda government owned New Vision proudly announced that 11 Ugandans were to be awarded US doctorate degrees from United Graduate College and Seminary (UGCS) of Tennessee. They Ugandan elits included Pastor Robert Kayanja who received an honorary doctorate in Divinity and his life Jessica Kayanja, who pocketed a PhD in Humanities.
The UGCS is an Internet degreed issuing business, which enables individuals to earn degrees for less than $2000 and without the experience of regular examinations or interactive contact with instructors. Last week the Kenyan local press reported that letters inviting selected men and women to accept honorary PhDs at a Nairobi “graduation” ceremony, also asked them to make contributions towards the travel and accommodation expenses of the visiting American UGCS officials.
Pastor Simeon Kayiwa of Namirembe Christian Fellowship is one of the pioneering high profile “graduate” of the Internet “university”. On January 30, 2009, the New Vision reported: “… Kayiwa was recently awarded yet another Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) degree by the united graduate College and seminary, USA. D.Litt, a university degree which is above Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), is issued on the basis of research and its publication.” Businessman Bonny Katatumba, who serves as the Pakistan honorary counsel in Uganda, is another UGCS PhD holder and professor according to an April 15, 2010 story in the NRM government journalistic flagship, the New Vision.
According to sources in the Ugandan evangelical community, where pastors Kayiwa and Kayanja are often regarded as annointed by God to do the right things, their followers are unaware that anyone can get UGCS degrees for less than $2,000.
According to the United Graduate College and Seminary website, the cost of a Bachelors degree is $1,595 plus the purchase of 5 books. As for the minimum academic requirements, the UGCS website state that: “Each student will be required to complete 35 hours of course work from United Graduate College and Seminary before we will grant a Degree.” In describing degree course work, the site states: “Each student is required to thoroughly read each book listed below. Each book is considered a (One 5- Hour Course). After each book is read, you need to write a 10 to 15-page paper for each book. In each paper we want you to, 1. Point out the principles found throughout the book. 2. List the valuable truths found in each book. 3. We want you to tell us how you can use these principles and truths in your ministry to others. Each paper needs to be typed with no grammatical errors. Size 14 font is suggested.” Notably, most of the content on the university’s website is is grammatically incorrect, with reckless use of capital letters on imperfect nouns.
To earn a PhD from the UGCS the cost jumps to $ 2,295. And the degree requirements are as follows: “The Student Candidate must have a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree that is Approved your Seminary before the Degree is granted. The student will be required to write a dissertation that would be worthy of publication. However, the student is not required to publish their work. The dissertation will need to be minimum 60 pages or more. The average dissertation is between 60 to 100 pages long. A Bibliography of a minimum of 14 books the student has ead and referred to in the preparation for the dissertation will be necessary as well. The student will need to contact us before He or she be ins their dissertation and let us know what the dissertation will be on. Once we approve it, the student may begin. It is important that Footnotes and any research notes should be noted numerically after each quote with the source listed at the bottom of each page. This paper should not be turned into the seminary until the Curriculum is completed.”
The now popular (among Uganda’s poorIy educated elite) United Graduate College and Seminary does not place time requirements on its degrees reveal passing grades. The school, who e president is Dorothy Wisor claims that it is accredited by the United Association of Christian Churches and Ministries International (UACCMI). However, a check of the UACCMI website shows that the organization is owned b Martin Wisor, an apparent relative of Dorothy Wisor.
