My Experience as a student in Atlantic International University
I enrolled in AIU as a student on September 2013 after searching for close to two years for a university to enroll for a doctorate course.
At the back of my mind I knew I needed to find a university that was credible, would provide me the opportunity to pursue my professional career while still pursuing my studies. I believe an effective adult learning program should be continuous, enriching and empowering.
After a long search I came across AIU website, I looked through the requirements needed and noted they had the course I would be interested in (Project Management). I have worked in development projects in the past 15 years and I was seeking to gain new skills and knowledge that would also propel me to the next level in my professional career.
I did not know or have experience with the andragogy education approach that was being used by AIU but I took courage and contacted the university.
The tutor (Junko) was quite helpful by answering all the questions I had about the university and I was finally convinced that an AIU was a credible university and an AIU education experience would be worth a try. I was further impressed and encouraged when AIU offered me a scholarship for my studies something that I did not expect. I am grateful for the support.
I begun my course work and had an interesting and enriching time (experience) while working on my assignments and reading widely from the student library and other sources. Some examples on how the studies helped are as follows
· I learnt that I could share my field work experiences with others through developing manuscripts for publication. This led me to prepare and submit three college assignments in Organization Development, Resource mobilization and Human Resource Management which were published.
Batti R.C. (2014) Enhancing Non-Governmental Organization capacity through organization development.Journal of Developing Country Studies. Vol 4, No 8.[Online]. Available from:http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/DCS/article/view/12206/12559.
Rehema C. Batti.(2014)Challenges Facing Local NGOs in Resource Mobilization.Humanities and Social Sciences.Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 57-64. [Online]. Available from:http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20140203.12.pdf.
Rehema C. Batti. (2014). Human Resource Management Challenges Facing Local NGOs.Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 4, 2014, pp. 87-95.[Online]. Available from:http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20140204.11.pdf.
This was the first time I have ventured into the area of preparing manuscripts for publication and all this was possible through AIU.
· I was able to use principles I learnt and new perspectives to develop a partnership guide for use within the organization I work for.
· I developed an interest in writing a book on my field experiences working with local NGOs in Kenya and Tanzania especially in the area of Organization Development. I felt that I needed to share my experiences so that other development practioneers can be committed in supporting Local NGOs that go through so many challenges in management yet they do a lot of impressive work at community level. I currently have a manuscript ready on Organizational development and am pursuing to publish it as an e-book soon.
· I am currently working on my research project on challenges and opportunities of Partnership between Local and International NGOs. This is a continuation of a unit I did on partnership and it sparked an intrest in highlighting the challenges faced in such collaborations. I believe as a development practioneer who has been working with Local NGOs for the past 14 years, the findings of the research will support partnerships here in Tanzania especially where collaboration is with Local NGOs.
· I got encouraged when I saw other Kenyan students and other professionals graduating from the University and their testimonies inspired me.
Studying at AIU was an eye opener for me as it helped me explore new horizons and discover current development perspectives that empowered me in my professional work.
My advisor (Dr Valcin and others) and the various tutors were committed and prompt whenever I needed helped. I remember I could not access the website for awhile and when I presented my request it was worked on and I was back online in less than 24 hours.
Dr Valcin gave me continuous guidance on how to approach my assignments and when I was uncertain on how to proceed he readily and quickly gave me advice on what to do. I owe my success and remarkable performance to the AIU team.
I have learnt a lot from my AIU studies and I appreciate the support provided as I pursued my studies both financial and technical support.
Keep up the good work.
Rehema C. Batti
