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More Africans Choosing Embry-Riddle

In her native Kenya, Vivian Njuguna used to watch jets flying into Nairobi's only international airport. At times, she even dreamed about flying, spreading her arms and simply soaring among the clouds.

In a way, that's exactly what she'll be doing in a few years. Now a freshman enrolled at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Njuguna is working toward a degree in aviation computer science. At the beginning of the next millennium, she'll be back in Kenya, helping her country's aviation industry soar. She's not dreaming alone.

Attention shifting to West

In fall 1997, more than 100 students from Africa were enrolled in Embry-Riddle degree programs, the biggest single group from that continent in the University's history. "It's the largest group I've seen," agrees Olefile Moakofi, a junior from Botswana who is president of the African Student Association at the University.

In the past, students might have attended aviation schools in England or France, the two most prominent former African colonial powers. These days, however, Africans are shifting their attention to the West, according to Jean-Claude Kouyo from the Ivory Coast. "After all, most planes are American-made, English is the language of aviation, and aviation really started in America," notes Kouyo, who was raised in France and is following in the footsteps of his father, a French Air Force veteran.

Other reasons have created the African enrollment surge. "Ten or 15 years ago, it used to be very difficult to get into aviation," Kouyo says. "Aviation was a mystery," forcing African nations to rely on outside assistance to build their aviation infrastructures. Now, he says, "we want to run our own companies."

10,000 miles to Daytona Beach

Mehdi Alaoui is doing just that. A 1986 graduate, he founded the first private airline in Morocco in July. "We broke the monopoly," Alaoui says from his Regional Air Lines office in Casablanca. He credits his success to Embry-Riddle. "It's the best education you can get," he says.

He could have avoided the nearly 10,000-mile trip to Daytona Beach by attending a school in Europe, but he didn't hesitate. "Embry-Riddle is the only university completely dedicated to aviation," Alaoui explains.

Students and a Resin Model The few African schools with aviation training offer only short term professional programs, according to Ousman K. Manjang, the first citizen of Gambia to attend Embry-Riddle. That was not enough for someone like him, who's studying to be an inspector for his country's civil aviation agency.

African students interested in aviation actually have little opportunity to study in Africa, adds Mackenzie Ogweng, an Embry-Riddle alumnus who was contacted in his Uganda Airlines office in Kampala. "No university in all of Africa offers a specific degree in aviation," he explains. Some universities, like Vitwatersrand University in Johannesburg, do provide aviation-related courses. For a complete program, however, Embry-Riddle is the only option, he says.

"Aviation in Africa is just in the embryo stage," says Gambia's Manjang, who sees his degree placing him in the upper echelon among his colleagues. "The degree will help me get a good job,"adds Desire' Gui-Dibo from Ivory Coast.

"Companies in Africa are impressed with Embry-Riddle," continues fellow student Bao Mosinyi, from Botswana.

Helping build aviation programs

That's understandable. The University has made a concerted effort to provide training for students living in long-neglected areas. "Part of Embry-Riddle's role has been to help countries build their own aviation programs,"student leader Moakofi says.

As a result, Moakofi says, "Embry-Riddle is known around the world." The school is listed in the International Civil Aviation Organization training directory, where many Africans first learn about it.

Moakofi didn't have to do any extra reading; he only had to talk to his boss, Joseph Moatsche, a 1981 Embry-Riddle graduate who is deputy permanent secretary to the minister of transportation.

Moatsche, who had been director of civil aviation, isn't the only Embry-Riddle graduate to find a top job in African industry after leaving the University. "Many graduates have been very successful," says Moakofi.

According to records from the Embry-Riddle alumni relations office, as of 1997 the University had 115 graduates in Africa and the Middle East. The largest number are from Saudi Arabia, but many sub-Saharan African nations are represented.

Uganda may have been the first African country to send students to the United States. Ogweng was already following a well-trod path when he left his Ugandan home in the late 1970s to journey to Daytona Beach to begin training as a pilot. Years before, strongman Idi Amin had sent young men to train at Embry-Riddle. Ogweng still sees some of those graduates around Kampala, long after Amin has become a memory.

A comfortable campus environment

Ogweng paid his own way to Embry-Riddle. That's not uncommon, although many students enjoy government stipends. Ivory Coast's Kouyo estimates about 50 percent of all African students at the University receive government support. They are obligated to return home or pay back every cent invested in them, Moakofi says.

Usually, there's only one or two students from any one country. However, on occasion, large groups, such as several dozen students sent by Saudi Arabian Airlines who began arriving in fall 1997, enter classes together.

Ogweng, now retiring as manager of passenger sales for Ugandan Airlines, remembers a comfortable international environment on campus: "There were a lot of students from Malaysia, Latin America, India, Korea, and Africa."

Embry-Riddle has helped many students fulfill their dreams, the same dreams drawing a growing number of Africans to aviation.

By Bill Lazarus