Often times we celebrate first class degrees, it is a good thing because a lot of energy and time is invested towards the attainment of that accolade.
There are people, however, who have, after 35 years, gone back to school and graduated successfully.

This is not because they were the most brilliant persons but because they were determined to succeed.
Nelson Nsubuga, UCU’s senior Custodian, is one such person. Speaking with Nsubuga for the first time may turn into an illusion when he tells you the last time he saw a black board was 2010. That could be because he was 55 years old and prior to that was 1972, when he dropped out of school in Primary Seven.
Nsubuga was one of the 1283 students who graduated at the recently concluded third part of UCU’s eleventh graduation with a Bachelor degree in Social Works and Social Administration (SWASA).
 For a man who first came to the then Bishop Tucker Theological College (BTTC) as a security guard in 1992 getting a Bachelor degree was nothing short of a miracle.
“I started at BTTC in 1992, I had just lost my job as a security guard at the then Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) due to the restructuring process,” he said.
Being the man of God that he was, Nsubuga took to preaching, it is from these activities that the then Rev Ssemakula (he forgets the other name) of Ndeeba Archdeaconry noticed him.
“At that time I did not know Rev Ssemakula, but he knew me, one day while he was preaching in Nakanyonyi, one of the leaders of BTTC heard my story and it coincided that they were looking for a security guard who was God fearing, so that is how I came here,” Nsubuga narrates.
Before UCB, Nsubuga had from 1974 to 1991 worked for his uncle in Jinja as a supervisor in a tea room, prior to that he had tried his hand at other trades.
“I wanted to go to school so much but my parents could not afford so I took it upon myself to raise the money, I dug, worked as a houseboy and as a mechanic but I failed,” he adds.
Nsubuga did not give up. He did a number of long distance correspondence courses in Literature in English and Spirituality for which he was awarded certificates that were never recognised by Uganda National Examinations Board, (UNEB).
“No matter how many certificate courses I did, I still was not able to get a UNEB certified conversion but they helped me to learn better English,” said Nsubuga.
The turning point came on 25th January 2000, after much thought; Nsubuga decided it was time to get a higher formal education. That did not bear fruit for another four years.
In 2004, Nsubuga walked down to YMCA offices in Mukono and asked for a course that could help him counsel.
When he got there he found a gentle man, Mukasa Kasajja, who told him they had the course that he wanted but the certificate would not be recognised by UNEB, he did the programme anyhow.
 “I decided on this programme because, I wanted to know how parents perceived their student children, I also wanted to help the married to sustain their marriages and lastly to reach out to the educated and teach them cultural values.”  
He added that after taking on the programme, he presented the certificate to an admissions official at UCU, who told him to first take it to UNEB for verification.
“When I got there I found a rude young man who told me my paper was worthless,” he explained.
He took the paper to Uganda Martyrs Seminary, Namugongo, where he wanted to enrol for a diploma but was told the same thing and given the option of doing the mature entry exam.
In 2006, the mature entry exam came which he sat and passed.
“After passing that exam, I was eligible to be enrolled for a bachelor programme anywhere in Uganda, even without O and A level certificates. I chose UCU because of the proximity and because they had the programme that I wanted to study,” he said.  
Married to Victoria Nalukenge, the Nsubuga’s have seven children, all of whom have attained an education. His last born daughter is in her freshman year at Makerere University pursing a Bachelor of Industrial Fine Arts.
For Nsubuga, the fear to disappoint his lecturers was his biggest fear.
“I was in the evening class, often times I went home late and left early to work, one day I met a mob that thought I was a politician, I am very grateful to the students who were with me in the discussion group, they really helped me finish the programme and to UCU for the sponsorship they gave me and my children, it would have been different if I had to raise the fees on my own,” he said.
He added that he has thought of a master programme but at the moment, he needs to concentrate on his children first.