Two students from Africa are hoping that their time in the UK studying at the University of Worcester will enable them to make improvements to healthcare in their own country.

Commonwealth Scholarship students Alice Azongo (left) and Calliope Ntuyenabo (right) with the University's Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor David Green CBE DL

Alice Azongo, from Ghana, and Calliope Ntuyenabo, from Rwanda, are both doing a year-long Master's degree in Healthcare Management and Leadership at the University as part of a Commonwealth Scholarship. Neither student has travelled outside of Africa before.

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK (CSC) provides the scholarship scheme and is sponsored by the Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It is designed to support innovators and leaders of the future from across the Commonwealth, while attracting outstanding talent to the UK's universities.

The Scholarship pays for the students' fees, while the University provides accommodation and pays a stipend to cover the students' living expenses.

Alice, from Bawku, in upper east Ghana, had previously worked as a nurse. Last year she was appointed to a leadership role, which involves managing a health centre and other community health facilities within the area.

"I realised I was lacking in the management skills," she said. "I didn't have enough experience or training, so I needed to find a way of building myself up in order to fit well into that leadership role."

A senior colleague mentioned the scholarship programme and Alice came across the course at Worcester. "I have always wanted to study outside of my comfort zone and experience a different culture," she said. "I read a little bit about the City and the University's achievements, and I felt this would be the right place to come. So far the course has been so good. At the very beginning of it I was lost because of the difference in the structuring of lecturing here."

She plans to return to her hometown in Ghana afterwards. "I want to look at ways of improving access to healthcare," she said. "The management knowledge I get here I want to take back home and help my people to get quality healthcare."

Calliope studied Biomedical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Rwanda and was working for an organisation that supports the Ministry of Health. "My country wants to eliminate viral hepatitis B and C and I was supporting heath facilities to achieve this. But I felt like my skill set wasn't enough to provide that support," said the 35-year-old. "You need to expand the service delivery in an inclusive way. However, you need also to continuously monitor and improve the quality. That was my main reason for coming."

He became aware of the scholarship programme through a friend who had studied at a different UK university and came across the University of Worcester. Calliope said: "I went through the course and the modules and felt it was a good fit for me. The lecturers and staff are very supportive, they keep checking on you and they always want to help you. The course is very interesting. It's a serious course for anyone who wants to develop themselves as a manager or leader. The first module is managing and leading people, which is very useful in healthcare settings, and outside as well."

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