University of Makeni

University of Makeni (formerly known as the Fatima Institute and often known as UNIMAK) is the first private, Catholic, university located in Makeni, Sierra Leone.

University of Makeni
TypePrivate
EstablishedOctober 8, 2005[1]
AffiliationCatholic Diocese of Makeni
PresidentBishop Natalio
Location
Makeni
,
Sierra Leone

8.8874°N 12.0561°W / 8.8874; -12.0561
CampusUrban
Websitewww.unimak.edu.sl

History

It was founded as the Fatima Institute on October 8, 2005, by the Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Makeni led by Reverend George Biguzzi (born 1936, Italy).[1] In August 2009, it was granted university status and took its present name. Owned by the Diocese of Makeni, and the Bishop of Makeni is the university chancellor.

In 2011, along with City of Rest and the Community Association for Psychosocial Services (CAPS), UNIMAK became a founding member of the Mental Health Coalition (MHC) of Sierra Leone. Specializing in mental health service provision, academia, and advocacy, the consortium of organizations has been at the forefront of calls for reform of the mental health sector in Sierra Leone.[2]

Ebola restrictions forced a temporary closure of the University of Makeni between 2014 and 2016.[3]

In 2018, UNIMAK created an additional campus in the Koinadugu District of Sierra Leone. The campus is located in Kabala Town and UNIMAK is the first University to have begun operations in the district.[4] In 2018, the university's application fees were eliminated for application forms as part of an initiative championed by President Julius Maada Bio to improve access to higher education for young people.[5]

In 2019, the university became a founding member of the First Responder Coalition of Sierra Leone (FRCSL), with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, LFR International, the Holy Spirit Hospital, and Agency for Rural Community Transformation (ARCT). The Coalition's mission was to "facilitate the development of emergency first responder programs to alleviate the burden of traumatic injury in Sierra Leone."[6][7]

Governance

The university is privately owned by the Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Makeni and is the first private university in the country owned by the Catholic Mission.[8] It is also governed by members of the Makeni University Governing Council.[9]

Programs

As a research-oriented university, there is a large breadth to the research being conducted at UNIMAK.[10]

Public health

Representatives from the University of Makeni and Makerere University in Uganda met with academics from the School of Public Health at the Imperial College London to discuss building institutional capacities to provide public health education.[11] The partnership has helped build the health education program at the university.

Ebola

In 2015, during the latter stages of the Ebola crisis outbreak, researchers from the University of Cambridge and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute studying unconventional transmission of Ebola by sequencing the virus in real-time initially constructed temporary genome sequencing facilities to provide in-country sequencing capabilities to process patient samples from Makeni. Since the end of the crisis, the facilities have since been moved to the university, where they have formed the UNIMAK Infectious Disease Research Laboratory.[12] The laboratory provides training for local scientists and students, crucial to sequencing and managing continued Ebola cases in Makeni without international collaborators present.

UNIMAK has been a leader in the PREDICT Ebola Host Project, as one of two Sierra Leonean institutions involved in the project (the other being Njala University).[13] The PREDCIT project is a USAID-funded project headquartered at the UC-Davis One Health Institute. Subsequent to the Ebola Crisis, two groups began searching for hemorrhagic disease reservoirs in West Africa to preempt future crises.[14] One group was led by the CDC and Njala University, while the other was led by UC-Davis and UNIMAK. As a result of the project, scientists were able to discover an Ebola virus species (Marburg Virus) in a host (fruit-eating bats) prior to detection in an infected human or sick animal for the first time ever.[15][16][17]

Special needs educators program

UNIMAK is currently the only university in Sierra Leone to offer special needs teacher training.[18] The absence of special needs teachers in Sierra Leone to educate disabled children has become a priority for the Ministry of Education, having assured the government that it is championing policy for the expansion of these programs in Parliament based on UNIMAK's programs.[19]

References
  1. Jibba, Mac (August 29, 2011). "Sierra Leone: The University of Makeni - A University With a Difference". Concord Times (Freetown). Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  2. on, Posted (2018-10-04). "Sierra Leone: A long road towards mental health reform". Politico SL. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  3. Guardian Staff (2016-11-11). "Volunteers who fought Ebola for Sierra Leone – one year on". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  4. Media, Sierra Express. "Momoh Konte Takes UNIMAK To Koinadugu – Sierra Express Media". Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  5. Contributor, S. E. M. "President Bio Eliminates Fees For University Application Forms – Sierra Express Media". Retrieved 2019-06-21. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  6. "Makeni: Coalition of First Responders formed". The Patriotic Vanguard. 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
  7. Thomas, Abdul Rashid (2019-07-05). "Sierra Leone's road accident First Responder Coalition to save thousands of lives". Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  8. "Sierra Leone News: UNIMAK to Re-Open with 2 Lawyers". Awoko Newspaper. 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  9. "Members of the University Council". University of Makeni. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  10. "UniMak to host Julius Maada Bio". Awoko Newspaper. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  11. London, Imperial College London. "Sporty science and partying way out west: News from the College | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  12. "Sexual transmission involved in tail end of Ebola epidemic". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  13. "Pre-empting zoonotic disease threats: Researchers focus on animal reservoirs for Lassa and Ebola viruses". www.avma.org. March 27, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  14. "Deadly Marburg virus detected in West Africa for the first time, in fruit bat populations". Axios. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  15. Sun, Lena H. (December 20, 2018). "Deadly Marburg virus found in bats in Sierra Leone". The Washington Post.
  16. Kerlin, Kat; Davis, U. C. (2018-10-19). "Finding Ebola before it finds you". University of California. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  17. "Sierra Leone News: Marburg virus detected in fruit-eating bats". Awoko Newspaper. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  18. "Sierra Leone News: Sight Savers champion Inclusive Education Policy". Awoko Newspaper. 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  19. "Sierra Leone News: Inclusive education policy ready". Awoko Newspaper. 2017-11-29. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
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