On 15^th July 2026, Uganda Management Institute (UMI) hosted Her Excellency Fátima Yesenia Fernández Juárez, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Uganda, for a meeting at its Kampala Campus. The engagement marked a milestone in advancing UMI’s internationalization education outreach agenda and strengthened diplomatic and academic collaboration.

This reciprocal visit followed an earlier solidarity outreach to the Venezuelan Embassy in Kampala by students from UMI’s pioneer Postgraduate Diploma in Diplomacy and International Relations Management (DIRM) class on July 8th 2026. The students offered formal heartfelt condolences to her Excellency and the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the catastrophic loss of lives, widespread displacement of citizens, and massive destruction of livelihoods and infrastructure resulting from the severe floods, mudslides, and earthquakes that impacted various regions of Venezuela. The embassy had designated a period of national mourning to honor the victims of the tragedy in which the UMI students participated and signed the condolence book

Strategic priorities for Partnership

During the meeting with UMI’s Director General Professor James L. Nkata and other institute officials, the key areas of discussions revolved around cooperation in Research & Development by leveraging UMI’s Research Centre to address regional and global governance issues; Academic Exchange through partnering with Venezuelan public universities to facilitate virtual learning, faculty and student exchange programs, joint conferences, intellectual resources and partnerships with Public Dialogues through developing recurring policy forums featuring diplomatic voices to enrich discourse on global affairs and international relations.

This high-level engagement highlighted UMI’s commitment to bridging academic learning with real-world diplomatic practice, reinforcing the institute’s position as a hub for executive management and international development in the region.