New student hostel now complete
The completion of a five-story student hostel, improving the quality of accommodation is now available for the medical students at Bugando University College of Health Sciences.
September also saw the completion of a five-story student hostel, which will significantly improve the quality of accommodation available for the medical students at BUCHS. Made possible by considerable contributions from Maryknoll private donors and a $1 million Touch grant, the hostel contains 160 bedrooms accommodating 320 beds on its four residential floors, and houses a large classroom, student cafeteria, game room, TV room, laundry facility and study rooms. With the goal of enhancing students’ learning opportunities outside of the classroom, we are currently reviewing plans to install computers in the study rooms, possibly during the 2006/7 academic year.
The completion of the hostel construction comes at a critical time for the university as it continues to grow at a rapid pace. Of the 65 new students who were admitted to the medical college for the 2006/7 academic year, 61 accepted admission and have joined the college’s 86 returning students to form four classes of future doctors. In addition to its MD college, Bugando is also training over 400 paramedical students, and the newly completed hostel can now accommodate both medical and paramedical residents. A second phase of construction will begin in the first weeks of November, and should take about one year to complete. The additional construction will add two residential floors to the hostel, increasing the number of student beds by 160 to a total of 480 beds. With their living quarters thus secured, students at BUCHS can focus on their studies in preparation for a lifetime of healing. Thanks to the quality instruction provided by the professors at the medical college, the steady growth in student body that is currently taking place will translate directly into the increase in well trained healthcare workers that Tanzania so desperately needs.