General

Sir Tim Berners-Lee visits Makerere

Published

12 years ago

November 25, 2009

Ass. Prof. Idris Rai Deputy Dean, Academic Affairs FCIT

The hall was filled with students eagerly waiting to at least catch a glimpse of this world famous gentleman, credited with inventing the World Wide Web from its humble beginnings to its current sophisticated nature with arms touching almost every corner of the globe.

The hall was filled with students eagerly waiting to at least catch a glimpse of this world famous gentleman, credited with inventing the World Wide Web from its humble beginnings to its current sophisticated nature with arms touching almost every corner of the globe.

Michael Niyitegeka, Head, Corporate Relations Office at the Faculty of Computing & IT Makerere and emcee for the day welcomed Sir Tim as he’s famously known to Makerere University and thanked the facilitator Stephane Boyera for making the visit possible. He then invited Dr. Idris Rai , Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Computing & IT make a few remarks.

Dr. Idris Rai thanked Sir Tim for making time to come to Uganda and Makerere University in particular. Citing his PhD work, which focused on designing and analyzing mechanisms to support Quality of Service in Edge Routers of IP Networks, he hoped that Sir Tim’s presentation would help everyone present to better appreciate how the World Wide Web operates, concluding by inviting him to deliver his presentation.

Sir Tim Beners-Lee delivers his presentation Sir Tim thanked everyone present for making time to come and listen to him, especially appreciating that a number of students from different Universities i.e. Makerere, Kyambogo, Nkumba and Gulu were present as well. Launching into the history of the World Wide Web first, in his own words "I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the Transmission Control Protocol and domain name system ideas the World Wide Web was created, which ran on the NeXT machine. The specifications of Universal Document Identifiers (UDIs) now called the Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) published on the first server in order to promote wide adoption and discussion"

With the growing need for Web clients for other platforms, browsers such as Erwise, Viola, Cello and Mosaic eventually came on the scene. Then the need for servers to provide examples of WebPages arose, which led to the creation of the first Web server (info.cern.ch). Sir Tim then founded the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) in 1994, with its base at MIT, which is a neutral open forum where companies and organizations to whom the future of the Web is important come to discuss and to agree on new common computer protocols.

He then talked about The Semantic Web, which is an evolving development of the World Wide Web in which the meaning (semantics) of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to "understand" and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content.

Sir Tim then went on to answer questions from the gathering, notable among whom, was Prof. James Patrick Mangeni Head, Research Education Network Uganda and an alumni of Sir Tim at Oxford University. Prof. Mangeni thanked Sir Tim for his visit and looked forward with sharing experiences especially with the advent of the undersea fiber cable that will improve bandwidth capacity and foster research.

Prof. Baryamureeba(right) greets Sir Tim (left) after his presentation

A vote of thanks moved by Prof. Mangeni signaled the close of the talk and an opportunity for Sir Tim to interact with the Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Baryamureeba, members of staff and students who had graced the occasion.

(L-R)Prof. Opuda DVC-Kyambogo,Prof. Baryamureeba Ag. VC-Makerere,Sir Tim, Dr. Idris Rai FCIT & Prof J.P. Mangeni

General

Veteran Professor changed Makerere and Higher Education

Published

1 day ago

June 21, 2021

Mark Wamai

Professor Pancras John Mukasa Ssebuwufu (L) receives a plaque and citation from RUFORUM Board Member and Vice Chancellor Ndejje University-Professor Eriabu Lugujjo (Right) on 6th May 2021 at the RUFORUM Secretariat, Plot 155 Garden Hill, Makerere University Main Campus,

When Professor John Ssebuwufu ambled up to receive a certificate of recognition for his ‘exceptional’ contribution to higher education from the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) at Makerere University (MU), he was thinking of many things, such as rewarding staff, that he could have done differently to impact university education more.

But he did what he could have done, under the circumstances.

He presided over MU (in 1993) when student enrolment was 5,000 and left in 2004 when the population was surging to more than 15,000.

He emphasised the use of information communication technologies in almost all the institutions he had been involved in and sent many academic staff on exchanges to boost research and innovation. Now, more African universities engage in ground-breaking research.

So, he proceeded to accept his recognition and make his acceptance speech, which was mostly about gratitude.

Ssebuwufu, 74, who is currently the chancellor at Kyambogo University and the vice-chancellor of the University of Kisubi, is credited for his exemplary leadership and pragmatic methods that have shaped higher education in Uganda and Africa as a whole.

General

Japan Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) Program 2021/2022

Published

1 day ago

June 21, 2021

Mark Wamai

Japan Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) Program 2021/2022. Photo credit: AfDB

The Japan Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) Program is a capacity building project by the AfDB and Japan which was initiated in 2017 with the aim of providing two-year scholarship awards to highly achieving African graduate students to enable them to undergo post-graduate studies (i.e. a two-year Master’s degree program) in selected priority development areas on the continent and Japan. The overarching goal the AfDB and the Government of Japan seek to attain is to enhance skills and human resources development in Africa in under the Bank’s High 5s agenda (i.e. “Feed Africa”, “Light up Africa”, “Industrialize Africa”, “Integrate Africa” and “Improve the quality of life of the people of Africa”) and key Japanese development assistance initiatives. JADS core areas of study focus include energy, agriculture, health, environmental sustainability, and engineering. The program also seeks to promote inter-university collaboration and university-industry partnerships between Japan and Africa. Upon completion of their studies, the JADS scholars are expected to return to their home countries to apply and disseminate their newly acquired knowledge and skills in the public and private sectors, and contribute to national and continental socio-economic development.

About the JADS program

The JADS Program is open to applicants from AfDB member countries with relevant professional experience and a history of supporting their countries’ development efforts who are applying to a graduate degree program in energy development and related discipline. The program does not provide scholarships to any other graduate degree program.

The scholarship program provides tuition, a monthly living stipend, round-trip airfare, health insurance, and travel allowance.

Upon completion of their studies, the beneficiary scholars are expected to return to their home countries to apply and disseminate their newly acquired knowledge and skills, and contribute to the promotion of sustainable development of their countries.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

The program is open to those who have gained admission to an approved Masters degree course at a Japanese partner university. Candidates should be 35 years old or younger; in good health; with a Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in the energy area or related area; and have a superior academic record. Upon completion of their study programs, scholars are expected to return to their home country to contribute to its economic and social development.

Application Procedures

Applicant requests for information and application forms and procedures from the chosen JADS partner university. For any inquiries, please contact JADS@AFDB.ORG
Applicant completes required documents and sends them to the university.
University evaluates and selects applicants.
University sends selected candidates to the AfDB.
AfDB reviews submissions from universities, prepares and approves the final list.
AfDB contacts selected awardees, and informs the universities.