Dr. Lawrence Muganga has shared the story behind his appointment as Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, revealing that the role was never part of his original plan when he returned to Uganda for what was meant to be a short-term consultancy.
Speaking on Sanyuka TV’s Bigenda Bitya show, Dr. Muganga explained that he had no intention of staying in Uganda long-term when he first came back. His initial reason for returning was to support the Ministry of Education with the rollout of the competence-based curriculum, after both the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister personally requested his expertise on the education reforms.
At the time, he was working abroad as a professor and had only planned to complete the consultancy assignment before heading back to his position overseas. As he put it, he came back purely as a consultant, and one that was well compensated for the work.
The turning point came through a friend who had interviewed him on several occasions and decided to introduce his profile to the late Rajiv Ruparelia and his father, businessman Sudhir Ruparelia. According to Muganga, the friend reached out to the Ruparelia family suggesting he could be the right person to help turn around their university.
That introduction led to a meeting between Muganga and the Ruparelia family to discuss the future of Victoria University, which was going through a difficult period at the time. He revealed that the institution had shrunk to only about 190 students during the COVID-19 period, making its revival both urgent and ambitious.
Those conversations about rebuilding the university eventually culminated in Muganga’s appointment as Vice Chancellor, a position from which he has since led Victoria University’s turnaround and growth into the institution it is today.
