University’s Haiti Program
The prestigious business magazine, Crain’s Detroit Business, highlighted Madonna University’s Haiti Education Leadership Program in an article published February 5.
In the article, Madonna University President Sister Rose Marie Kujawa, who was instrumental in creating the degree-granting program for Haitians, explained her desire to help the citizens of Haiti.
“Our focus is the tiny middle class that may only represent five percent or so of the population; but those students have no other options,” Kujawa said. “We want those in the middle to have the chance to create successful businesses and have good careers working for the government or organizations in Haiti.”
The first 16 students completed their initial semester in early January, and University administrators hope to offer classes to an estimated 20 Haitian students, ages 21-28, per semester.
Madonna’s program is considered one of the only higher education distance learning programs managed by a foreign university in Haiti.
The Crain’s story also included a quote from Edward Blews Jr., president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan. Blews said that, “by offering this program, Madonna is contributing in a very meaningful way to the long-term economic recovery of Haiti.”
