Every third Friday of the month, the Linux User Group – Uganda (LUG) gathers for its monthly meeting at a venue around town. This time around, the Faculty of Computing and Informatics Technology played host to the assembly and by 4:00pm, the Level 3 lecture theatre was filled with chatter from a sizeable number of students and ICT professionals.
Every third Friday of the month, the Linux User Group – Uganda (LUG) gathers for its monthly meeting at a venue around town. This time around, the Faculty of Computing and Informatics Technology played host to the assembly and by 4:00pm, the Level 3 lecture theatre was filled with chatter from a sizeable number of students and ICT professionals.
As promised by the online postings on the LUG mailing list , this was not going to be any ordinary monthly gathering as Friday 19th February 2010 had been chosen as the date to launch the Makerere chapter of the LUG. A quick scan of the babbling audience revealed mixed looks of expectation and curiosity for the first-time attendees and calmer poised-to-share looks from the more seasoned professionals and their waiting soon paid off.
Jubal Harpster, Technology Officer, AGCommons (Agricultural Geospatial Commons) program took the attendees through a presentation detailing the extensive work done by AGCommons in identifying and developing data, tools and services that deliver relevant, timely and affordable geospatial information to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Citing a Kenyan project in his presentation, he displayed how AGCommons made use of Open Source Software to create A map of existing seed (and other inputs) dealers and carry out Spatial analysis of the information leading to decision on location of new outlets. These maps are then updated at monthly/seasonal intervals on varieties available, with all this done using applications like QGIS . Simon Vass, Technical Manager, E-Tech Uganda Ltd then presented his customized Ubuntu operating system, which he admitted to have put together during his free time so demonstrate the ease of customization and challenge them to come up with their own. He proposed that if willing students were identified to maintain the project, he could push for his prototype to become a release in its own right. He however, availed a copy of his release for students to explore get motivated to develop their own.
Sam a developer from Digital Solutions, who admitted to have completed his Bachelors degree less than two years back, took attendees through his daily use of Open Source Software to develop cutting edge applications like the latest cross-platform Butterfly all the while extolling Linux’ versatility and suitability for development.
At the end of the presentations, Battenberg, Director, Mountbatten Ltd encouraged the students to explore Open Source Software, especially the Ubuntu distributions, which have a locally hosted cache to ease the regular update of their installations. The team also talked about a proposed project to build an Ubuntu mirror at Makerere University or Uganda Christian University Mukono . They then took time off to answer the numerous questions from the students and at the end, thanked them all for coming to the launch, encouraging them delve even further into the daily use of Open Source Software.
72 undergraduate students of Makerere University have successfully been admitted to the Millennium Fellowship Class of 2026, an initiative of the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and United Nations Academic Impact. Makerere’s Fellows were selected from a record-breaking 76,000 applicants from over 6,000 campuses across 174 countries to participate in the ambitious programme.
According to the Fellowship website, the programme aims to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UN Academic Impact Principles a reality on campuses, in classrooms and throughout communities. Millennium Fellows are university undergraduates selected for their leadership on sustainable development projects in their communities. As Fellows, they complete a semester-long leadership development programme that strengthens their student organizing, partnership-building and community-impact skills.
In his congratulatory message to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, Sam Vaghar the Executive Director, MCN shared that Over 330 campuses across 60 nations have been selected to host 2026 Millenium Fellows. “Congratulations to you and Makerere University for having a cohort of Millennium Fellows from your student body again this year!”
Below is a sample of the work of the Class of 2026.
At Harvard University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in the United States of America, Millennium Fellows are expanding OpenDoor, an AI-powered platform that helps people navigate retraining, job opportunities and pathways into high-demand careers. The project grew from their work with people experiencing homelessness and from seeing how difficult workforce programmes can be to navigate even when support exists. Advancing SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, it expects to reach about 7,500 people during the Fellowship.
At the University of Ilorin, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Nigeria, Millennium Fellows are building what they describe as Africa’s first green AI policy framework, helping policymakers and developers understand how artificial intelligence can advance while reducing energy use, pollution and material waste. Aligned with SDG 13: Climate Action, it expects to reach about 75 people during the Fellowship.
At BRAC University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Bangladesh, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production through a start-up replacing single-use products with environmentally friendly alternatives. Its current focus is a paper pen that uses roughly 90 per cent less plastic than a conventional pen, with a seed built in so it can grow into a plant when properly disposed of. The project expects to reach about 450 people.
At Nicolae Testemițanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Moldova, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being by studying how environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity may affect recovery after brain surgery. By bringing simple digital monitoring tools into postoperative care, the project aims to help doctors make timelier decisions.
We wish our Millennium Fellows an impactful fellowship.
The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released admission lists of candidates admitted under the Talented Sports Men & Women, Disability and District Quota Schemes with Government sponsorship 2026/27 Academic Year including appeals and remarked cases.
Other admission lists released include A-Level Applicants with Ugandan and those with Foreign Qualifications, Diploma in Performing Arts, Mature-Age Entry and Bachelor of Education (EXTERNAL Batch 2) for the Academic Year 2026/2027 under self sponsorship.
Makerere University‘s position in the July 2026 edition of the Webometrics Rankings has improved from 925th to 776th globally and from 13th to 11th on the Continent, compared to the January 2026 edition. Makerere remains the top-ranked University in Uganda and East Africa.
The new rankings are as a result of improved performance in the Impact Rank, which measures the number of external domains referring/linking to Makerere (from 1,593 to 1,185) and the Excellence Rank, which measures Research papers in the top 10% most cited between 2019 and 2023 (from 1,095 to 715).
Please see the attached screenshots for details or view Makerere‘s rankings online using the link below:
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities aims to recognize and promote the digital transformation of higher education institutions by evaluating how effectively they reflect their academic, research, and societal contributions online.
We remain committed to ensuring that all our good work in teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, and partnerships continues to be reflected online through various journals and other platforms.