About Us

Word from the Vice Chancellor

Prof. David Niyonzima

Welcome to the International Leadership University-Burundi

In the philosophical thinking known as “Existentialism”, Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher who lived between 1813 and 1855, believed that “people have to choose what they want to do and how they want to be”. He advocated for three modes of living.

The aesthetic mode characterized by how an individual strives to meet his/her life’s needs such a cleanliness, caring for the environment, good housing and good food. In this mode one asks the question of whether or not he/she is working to live in accordance with who he/she is. The International Leadership University-Burundi encourages students, in their academic and professional careers to “Work so hard that you never have to introduce yourself” as Gigi Hadid said.  

The ethical mode entails how we make choices. We have to make choices even if they are different from the expectations of others. We urge ourselves, at ILU-Burundi to make choices that are in accordance with God’s will, putting together intelligence and character during decision-making. Martin Luther King Jr said that “intelligence plus character – that is true education”.

 

The religious mode is known as the highest mode because it involves faith. The subject about religion is very complex. Prof Delanyo Adadevoh, in his book Leading Transformation in Africa, said:

 

The most important thing is not the religious forms, but the capacity of African leaders to have a personal relationship with God… Africa needs leadership with a transformed mentality; one that makes them look inwardly to their own gifting and then outwardly to how to position themselves in the global community.