The UGHE campus in Burera district, northern Rwanda
When the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) opened its doors a decade ago in Rwanda’s northern highlands, it carried an ambitious promise: to redefine how the world trains health professionals by placing equity, leadership, and service to the most vulnerable at the heart of medical education.
Ten years later, that vision has reached a defining milestone.
On January 25, 2026, UGHE will celebrate its 10th anniversary alongside the graduation of its first-ever Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery–Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MBBS–MGHD) cohort at its Butaro campus in Burera District.
For the institution, the moment is both symbolic and transformative — marking the transition from vision to tangible impact.
The graduating class includes 78 students, among them 30 pioneers of the MBBS–MGHD dual-degree programme, a unique curriculum that integrates clinical training with systems thinking, leadership, and global health delivery.
09th January,2024
MBBS Class 2029
Unlike traditional medical education models, UGHE’s approach prepares doctors not only to treat patients, but to understand and strengthen the health systems that serve them.
For these graduates, the journey has been demanding.
Trained in a setting that emphasizes community-based care, social determinants of health, and ethical leadership, they emerge at a time when global health challenges — from workforce shortages to inequitable access to care — require more than technical expertise alone.
Alongside the medical graduates, 48 students from the Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MGHD) programme also join the alumni community, representing UGHE’s 10th graduating MGHD cohort.
Their specializations span areas such as One Health, Global Surgery, Health Management, and Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health, reflecting the university’s multidisciplinary ethos.
UGHE leaders say the anniversary is not just a celebration of time passed, but of purpose fulfilled.
The institution was founded on the belief that health is a human right, and that training future leaders in underserved settings can reshape global health outcomes.
Over the past decade, UGHE has become a reference point for equity-centered education in Africa and beyond.
As graduates prepare to serve in Rwanda and across the world, the Butaro ceremony stands as a quiet but powerful statement: that world-class medical education can be rooted in solidarity, justice, and service — and that the future of global health leadership can emerge from places once considered peripheral.
Ten years on, UGHE’s story is no longer just about an idea. It is about people trained to turn equity into action.
09th January,2024
MBBS Class 2029
