MAKEREREUNIVERSITY

ADDRESS BY THE VICE CHANCELLOR

PROFESSOR LIVINGSTONE S. LUBOOBI

ON

THE OCCASION OF THE 58TH GRADUATION CONGREGATION

OF

MAKEREREUNIVERSITY

MONDAY 28TH JANUARY-FRIDAY 1ST FEBRUARY 2008

Professor George Mondo Kagonyera, Chancellor of MakerereUniversity

Your Lordships the Judges of the Judicature

Honourable Minister of Education and Sports

Honourable Ministers

Honourable Members of Parliament

Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Religious Leaders

Your Worship the MayorKampalaCity

Government Officials

Chairperson and Members of MakerereUniversity Council

My Colleagues the Vice-Chancellors, Rectors and Principals

My Colleagues in the University Administration

Members of the University Senate

Members of Staff of MakerereUniversity

Parents and Guardians

Graduands

Ladies and Gentlemen

BACKGROUND

Welcome

On behalf of the Management and Staff of Makerere University, I welcome you all to the 58th Graduation Ceremony.

I would like to welcome and congratulate in a special way all the graduands and their parents/guardians gathered here today. Congratulations on your perseverance and having come out victorious.

I extend our special welcome to our new Chancellor, Professor George Mondo Kagonyera. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate him on his recent appointment and installation as Chancellor of Makerere University. I would like to inform the congregation that you are not new to Makerere. You have served this institution right from 1971 as a lecturer, rising to the rank of Associate Professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, twice as Dean of the same Faculty and later as Chairman of the University’s Appointments Board. We are happy to have you back with us and we pledge our full support to you, Mr. Chancellor Sir and we look forward to a fruitful time together during your tenure of office. We thank His Excellence the President of the Republic of Uganda and Visitor of this University for appointing you and the Rt. Hon Prime Minister for installing you.

Tribute to the Outgoing Chancellor

Mr. Chancellor Sir, allow me to extend our sincere gratitude to the outgoing Chancellor, Rt Hon. Prime Minister, Professor Apolo Nsibambi for his solid support to the University over the last four years. We have found him, invaluable in our efforts to move this great institution forward.

During his time as Chancellor, he contributed a great deal in helping us resolve the challenges the University went through. These challenges included financial and social problems. Although there remain difficulties we can confidently say he has left the University much stronger than it was four years ago. He has pledged his continued support to us and we will continue to look to his resourcefulness to help us. We are very grateful to him.

Brief Statistics

Mr. Chancellor Sir, during this week, we are going to graduate over 5584 students in various disciplines using a new graduation format known as graduation week. Under this decentralised arrangement, students who have successfully completed their studies will graduate on different days according to their faculties. Of the total number of graduands, the male graduands are 2864 constituting 51.3%, while the females number 2720 constituting 48.7%. For this 58th Graduation a total of 46 Graduands obtained First Class Honours Degree,

  • 6 in Sciences (2 Females, 4 Males)
  • 40 in Humanities (22 Females, 18 Males)

Thus 52% of the first class graduands are Female and (48% Male).

Mr Chancellor Sir, for the undergraduate programmes for this group of students, the best student in the sciences is Mr. Paul Ssekagya who graduated in September 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in ComputerScience having scored a CGPA of 4.88 out of 5. The best student in the Humanities is Miss Annet Nakawooya who will is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama.

I warmly congratulate all students who have excelled by attaining first class and upper second-class degrees. I encourage them to progress further in their academics so as to gain new skills and be more competitive globally. I also congratulate all other graduands and wish them the best as they go out into the world.

Allow me recognise and congratulate members of staff who are graduating today, and those that have recently completed their study programmes in other institutions around the world. I would also like to congratulate members of staff whose children are graduating today.

Mr Chancellor, Sir, all those graduating with PhD degrees and many of those graduating with Masters are members of staff. In addition to these we have had twenty-two (22) members of staff graduating with PhDs from other universities abroad; nine (9) (40.9%) of these are female in the last six (6) months. Mr Chancellor Sir, as you may note we are building human resource capacity and competence for the present and the future of this great institution.

OBITUARY LIST (October 2007 to date)

On a sad note, I would like to report that the University has lost some members of staff since the last graduation ceremony. The most recent of these are:

  1. Mr. Raymond Alex Agara-Oyo, Senior Staff Development Officer in the Directorate of Human Resources worked with us from 1994 until his death on 13th October 2007.
  1. Dr. Imelda Nalukenge, Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness worked with us from 1995 until her death on 30th December 2007.
  1. Mr. Kannamwanje, Driver in the Dean of Students Office who passed away on Thursday 24th January 2008.

They greatly contributed to building for the future. The University will miss them immensely and we can meaningfully repay them for their services by holding dear their initiatives and uphold the strong values they stood for. We thank God for their lives and may their souls rest in eternal peace.

In the same vein, we mourn the departed spouses of our colleagues. On a sad note, Mr. Chancellor, Sir, I am informing the Congregation that:

  1. Dr. J.B. Nyakaana, Associate Professor, Department of Geography lost his wife on 10 January 2008
  2. Mr. Denis Asiimwe, Assistant Lecturer, Human Rights & Peace Centre, Faculty of Law, lost his wife on 12thJanuary 2008.

We pray to the Almighty to give our colleagues solace as they mourn their departed wives.

INITIATIVES, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Strategic Plan:

The University has undertaken the development of a ten-year strategic plan under the theme ‘Repositioning Makerere to Meet Emerging Challenges’. The plan to be implemented this year with a revised Vision and Mission will go a long in enhancing the University’s ability to provide effective and quality service and strengthen its position globally. We recognize that as a training institution, we have to constantly re-evaluate ourselves to make sure that we remain relevant to our environment and produce knowledge and graduates that answer to the national development goals.

Towards a College-based University:

MakerereUniversity is in advanced stages of implementing its plan to transform from a Faculty-based to a constituent College-based University. The process of establishing the College of Health Sciences, which has been approved by the National Council for Higher Education, has started. This new college will bring together the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Public Health.

The 5THFASUAllAfricaUniversity Games:

I have the pleasure to re-affirm to you that Uganda will be hosting the 5th FASU All Africa University Games at MakerereUniversity from the 6th to 16th July 2008. It is a national competition where all universities in Uganda will unite to form a national team to compete with the teams from other African countries.

The following countries have confirmed participation; Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda. We expect more countries to confirm participation by mid-February.

I request you to join me to appreciate the financial and material support towards the games from the following partners;

  • The Makerere University Council has committed Ug.Shs.300million/=
  • The Ministry of Education and Sports has committed Ug.Shs300million/=
  • The Inter University Council of East Africa has committed US $ 5000.
  • The Federation of University Sports China has donated sports equipment worth Ug.Shs.20million.

I wish to inform you that the Local Organising Committee needs Ug.Shs.6 billion to host the continental games. MakerereUniversity needs resources to upgrade its sports facilities and infrastructure to match international standards.

I therefore appeal to the Government of Uganda, Ministry of Education and Sports, fellow Vice Chancellors, alumni, staff, students, the business community and the sports fraternity to support Makerere in preparation for the games.

I am happy to report that MakerereUniversity emerged overall champions out of thirteen (13) Universities during the recently concluded National Inter-University Games held at the UgandaChristianUniversity, Mukono.

The School of Public Health:

The School of Public Health has received USD 2.5 million from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States for the next five years for HIV fellowships in the School, treatment and care.

Faculty of computing and Information Technology

The selection exercise for 30 PhD Scholarships Under The NPT Project on “Strengthening ICT Training and Research Capacity in Four Public Universities In Uganda” started in July 2007 (27th – 29th) with interviews to all shortlisted applicants from the Four Public Universities: Makerere, Mbarara, Kyambogo and Gulu. The exercise was done by the Academic Advisory Board chaired by Prof. John Nerbonne, the Overall Academic Supervisor of the Project for the three Institutions in the Netherlands. Step two was a research visit of two months for the selected candidates.

During the research visit candidates were put in research groups from which 10 candidates (5 from Makerere) were selected to study at Institutions in the Netherlands and the remaining 20 (13 from Makerere) are to pursue their PhD studies at Makerere University with regular research visits to their respective Universities of study in the Netherlands.

I congratulate the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology and students who won the scholarships.

Faculty of Technology:

Students from the Faculty of technology are participating in a project to develop and produce the world’s cheapest car through partnership with students from Germany. It is envisaged that it will be an electric car and the students of Makerere are to develop the electrical system. Makerere was the only AfricanUniversity to have been selected to participate in the project.

Food Science and Technology:

The Department is involved in the production of high quality fruit juices, Omulondo (a wild root liqueur) and cholesterol-free smoked meat whose benefits are substantial. These are all projects aimed at developing local products using local raw materials. It is also part of the University’s efforts to develop knowledge and products that are relevant to local needs.

Molecular Laboratories:

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources have fully equipped molecular laboratories that are, for example, able to carry out DNA tests.

Faculty of Arts:

The Department of Mass Communication is reviewing the curricula of all programmes to make them relevant to current trends in society. It is currently undertaking a review of the Regional Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Journalism and Communication, which is supported by Sida. The training programme covers five countries namely Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The Department of philosophy has successfully launched a summer school with the University of Zurich (Center for Applied Ethics) focusing on World poverty and Human Rights.

In addition, the Department is also in collaboration with Abo Akademmi of Finland in the philosophy of Human Rights and the project shall support one Doctoral student.

The Department of Philosophy has developed new courses namely Bachelors in Ethics and Public Management; and Masters in Applied Ethics. The two programmes are aimed at strengthening ethics in corporate management.

The Department of Religious Studies in conjunction with the School of Missions and Theology Stavanger-Norway were awarded a four year NUFU project entitled, “The Re-integration of female ex-child soldiers in East Africa.” Under this project, NUFU will fund three doctoral students and two Masters’ students.

The Institute of Languages is set to expand the number of Languages taught at the University. The new languages include;lusoga-lugweri-lukenyi, lumasaba-lusamia-lunyoli, ateso-karimojong and lugbarati-madi.

The Department of Geography is expanding its links with NCAR (NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research) for training and research programmes in climate change. The members of staff in the Department will visit the above facility in BoulderColoradoState next week.

Faculty of Social Sciences:

Under the staff development programme, 21 members of staff are undertaking their doctoral studies in various universities all over the world; these are expected to complete by 2009. This will significantly boost the staff-students ratio in teaching and research.

Review of the curriculum for the Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences) and Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration was completed and has been operationalised this academic year 2007/2008. In addition, the Faculty is in the process of reviewing the curricula for the Master’s programme in partnership with stakeholders.

On the research front, the Faculty has uniquely positioned itself in bio-social research with major emphasis on HIV/AIDS and other emergent diseases. A research inventory of social sciences research in Uganda is due to be uploaded on the Faculty Website.

The Faculty plans to construct a new building to increase space for teaching and learning and has so far saved Ug.Shs.200million. We therefore appeal to the Government, our alumni and development partners to join us in the efforts that are being made to mobilize resources for the building.

School of Education:

A total of thirteen (13) members of staff are pursuing PhDs in the different courses of study at MakerereUniversity, University of Dar es Salaam and other institutions in different parts of the world.

Improvement of School Practice

The School of Education conducts Te aching Practice where students are equipped with relevant teaching skills. In order to improve the Teaching Practice, we introduced school-based supervisors known as Cooperating Teachers, who guide students on a daily basis. This has resulted into efficient and effective supervision of student teachers. We thank ittee for funding the project and appeal to the University to support the project for sustainability.

Equipping Lecturers with Pedagogy Skills

A policy was passed that requires academic staff to be equipped with pedagogy skills. Under this, the School of Education conducts pedagogy courses for lecturers from other Faculties. Over 370 members of staff have been trained and equipped with pedagogy skills, which has resulted into improved delivery of their teaching services.

Promoting the Policy of using Mother Tongues

The School of Education has actively participated in promoting the policy of using mother tongues as the medium of instruction and thematic curriculum. We have developed the instructional materials for lower primary, written in local languages, following the thematic curriculum. We are actively involved in training of primary schools in methods of teaching mother tongues.

DOSATE

The Department of Science and Technical Education is in the process of restructuring its science education programmes to respond functionally to the demands of curricula in the School and College System.

Research Grants

The School of Education jointly with Open University in Britain won the British Council Research Grant amounting to £92,000 from May 2007 to May 2008 titled “E-Learning and Teacher Education.”

Research projects

We have continued to conduct research to generate new knowledge. The research projects include;

  • Strategies to enhance girl-child retention and performance sponsored by the Norwegian Government (NORAD)
  • Classroom interactions in the teaching of Mathematics, Science and Technical Education, sponsored by the Makerere University School of Graduate Studies.
  • Constructivists and Active Science, Teaching and Learning, sponsored by Rockefeller Foundation.
  • ICT in Science Education sponsored by United States of America.
  • Capacity building for teachers in post-conflict areas: The case for northern Uganda, sponsored by DFID through the British Council.
  • Exploring the factors affecting staff research output and completion rates of graduate students at MakerereUniversity funded by the School of Graduate Studies.
  • Formative evaluation of UPHOLD education programme sponsored by USAID.
  • Integrating HIV/AIDS into the secondary school curriculum funded by Uganda Aids Commission and sanctioned by the Ministry of Education and Sports.
  • A baseline study for the financing of Uganda private sector funded by the International Finance Corporation, World Bank.
  • Higher education research network in Africa sponsored by Carnegie Corporation. The collaborating Universities include University of New York, University of Western Cape, University of Oslo and Centre of Higher Education Transformation.
  • African Higher Education Research Online sponsored by AHERO project in collaboration with the University of Western Cape.
  • Education rehabilitation in northern Uganda, sponsored by IRC.

Infrastructure Development

The School has been saving resources and is planning to embark on an expansion of the current infrastructure and related facilities. We call upon alumni, development partners, and all stakeholders to join hands and support this noble cause.

Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR):

Dr. Stella Neema and Richard Kibombo’s research on Protecting the Next Generation (PNG) provided new evidence on the unmet sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents. The evidence was used to drive policy and program change by ensuring that the information reaches a wide range of national and international policymakers, program managers, opinion leaders and advocacy organizations.

MISR Established collaboration with the IDRC/ILC to coordinate and award small Research Grants on ‘Securing Women’s access to Land: Linking Research and Action. The program is 2 ½ years.

The University Library:

We are happy to report that the expansion of the University Library is set to continue. The new extension, which was constructed using internally generated funds (money raised by Makerere independent of government contribution), was recently handed over by the Arab Contractors. We have also received approval from government to borrow money from a development bank to fund the next phase of expansion. Let us note that the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act creates an enabling environment for public universities to borrow money for capital development.