By Charles K. Mark
Upper Nile University’s Vice Chancellor Dr. Marial Awou Yol has passed away while in India.
Dr. A. Adam Thabo, Chairperson of the Upper Nile University Academic Staff Association said in a statement that Dr. Marial Awou Yol died on the night of Thursday, September 14, 2023.
South Sudan Embassy in India, where the deceased’s spouse, Ambassador Victoria Samuel Aru, serves as Head of Mission, also confirmed the demise of Prof./Dr. Marial Awou Yol.
“Late Prof. Dr. Marial Awou Yol, Vice Chancellor of Upper Nile University and spouse of Ambassador Victoria Samuel Aru, Head of Mission, passed away last night in New Delhi, India,” the embassy posted on Friday.
Meanwhile, University of Juba Vice Chancellor Prof. John Apuruot Akec expressed grief about the departure of his colleague, whom he described as friend and great economist.
“I was saddened to learn this morning of the passing on in India of Professor Marial Awou Yol. Prof. Yol was the immediate Vice Chancellor of Upper Nile University and former Dean of the School of Social and Economic Studies at the University of Juba,” John Akec stated.
The Late Dr. Awou reportedly had frequent travels for medication to Khartoum before, he then travelled to New Dehli, India, where he succumbed to the long-unrevealed illness.
Until his demise on Friday morning, Prof. Awou served as Vice Chancellor of Upper Nile University since January 2019 when he took up leadership of the institution.
The news of Dr. Awou’s death shocked many students at Upper Nile University.
Lawrence Mathiak Ajak Padiet, a second-year student in the faculty of veterinary medicine, expressed his grief over the loss of the Vice Chancellor.
“I know this will affect us a lot because we are supposed to be having lectures, but now they are cancelled until Monday. I send my sincere condolences to the entire family,” Padiet told our reporter.
Padiet described the death of the vice chancellor as a loss to South Sudanese student’s union who still needed his service.
Biography
In 2009, he was appointed as the state minister of finance at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy in the Government of Sudan.
Following the secession of South Sudan, he was appointed deputy finance minister in the first post-independence government of South Sudan.
After graduating from Gezira University in Sudan with a Bachelor of Science degree (Honours, Division II upper) in 1984, he joined the University of Juba as a teaching assistant in the Department of Economics, College of Social and Economic Studies.
In 1990, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to undertake studies leading to the award of a Master of Arts degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in May 1992.
He then returned to Sudan and resumed teaching as a lecturer at the same college.
In December 1997, he received a government-funded scholarship to undertake a course of study leading to a Ph.D. in economics at the University Putra Malaysia (UPM).
In February 2002, he was awarded a Ph.D. in economics. Upon his return to the University of Juba in May 2002, he was appointed an assistant professor in economics. In July 2003, he joined Putra University Malaysia as a contract lecturer in economics.
After spending six years in Malaysia, Prof. Awou joined the World Bank as a senior consultant in monetary and exchange rate policies in May 2009 and was placed at the Central Bank of Sudan. (Media Sources)