Historical Evolution and Future Direction of Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology in South Sudan

Historically, Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology was first established as an institute and was upgraded to the university status after the war mainly in 2010. The university is named as Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology in memory of Dr John Garang’s contribution to bringing independence of South Sudan to a reality. The University has expanded from four colleges initially to ten colleges of: Agriculture, Education, Environmental Sciences, Management Sciences, Sciences and Technology, Veterinary Medicine, Medicine and Health Sciences, Law, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Economics and Social Sciences. The purpose of the university is to accomplish scientific development in the contemporary technology age and to propagate science and technology, and scientific information necessary to ensure development of agriculture sector as engine of growth. The objectives include disseminating science and technology through teaching and training, promotion of knowledge in a variety of scientific specialities including economics and social sciences. This paper provides a historical descriptive of the genesis and progress made in setting up and operationalizing the University. It is based on review of relevant secondary material. The findings are many but most important ones include creation of jobs both at State and national levels. Importantly, the University has graduated a good number of professionals and most of them are employed in public, private and NGOs sectors. The future direction of the University remains the provision of science and technology quality university education to ensure growth with development in South Sudan.