General
CIT builds capacity for African Anglophone Satellite Operators
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) held a workshop on ‘Satellite Communications’ for all African English speaking countries from 18th-22nd October 2010 at the Faculty of Computing and IT (CIT).
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) held a workshop on ‘Satellite Communications’ for all African English speaking countries from 18th-22nd October 2010 at the Faculty of Computing and IT (CIT).
The workshop was held under the ITU supported Center of Excellence (CoE) at Makerere University.
The workshop was aimed at helping VSAT operators, Telecom technicians and engineers come up to speed with the most technical concepts and practices. This is part of a recent capacity building partnership entered between the ITU and International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO) for the delivery of satellite communication training, under the auspices of the Centers of Excellence network for Africa.
The workshop covered a wide range of issues relating to satellite communications and regulatory issues, including the role of the regional and internal satellite communications organizations. The workshop addressed topics on: Satellite systems design and technology; Earth stations technology; Transmission and network planning; Link budget analysis and design; VSAT installation and maintenance; Audit of VSAT maintenance; regulatory factors: licensing, orbital slot registration and ownership, frequency registration, intersystem coordination; and Earth station and VSAT registration –best practices, WiMAX and other terrestrial interface issues.
Andreas Spoormaker, Director Customer Solutions Engineering-Intelsat Africa and an ITSO expert with 
extensive experience in satellite communications together with Eric Niameogo a VSAT expert, facilitated the training and took participants through sessions Satellite Network Dimensioning and Interference Initiatives.
Speaking about the 5-day training, Dr. Idris Rai, who is the ITU Center of Excellence Manager at Makerere University, noted the significant skills gained by the participants who attended the training from as far as Ghana, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and South Africa in addition to a host of participants from all local telecom operators. In particular, he stressed the importance and relevance of the ITU CoE in building capacity in telecom related disciplines in conjunction with ITU. For the first phase of three years, ITU supports the Center of Excellence in terms of identifying and funding experts in various Telecommunications disciplines.
There are six ITU CoE in Africa that were established last year through a very competitive bidding process. Two centers are located in West Africa, one in Central Africa, two in Eastern Africa, and one is a virtual CoE that delivers training through distance learning platforms. Other workshops that have been conducted at Makerere’s CoE include Customer Service Management, and the next workshop due to take place early next year, will be announced shortly.
Downloads
Training schedule MS Word version, PDF version
Andreas Spoormaker: Satellite Network Dimensioning presentation
Andreas Spoormaker: Interference Initiatives presentation
mwamai@admin.mak.ac.ug, Public Relations Office
General
Prof. Nawangwe urges Makerere University community to support the Mastercard Foundation E-learning Initiative
By Bernard Buteera
Makerere University has launched a two million dollar E-learning Project, dubbed The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program E-learning initiative.
The launch was held on Tuesday 20th September 2022 at Makerere University, Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility Auditorium. It attracted over 200 participants, who included members of University Management, College Principals, School Deans, Academic and Administrative staff, students and the general university community.
While addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest, Prof. Mary Okwakol, the Executive Director of National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), congratulated Makerere University for winning such a huge grant, which will go a long way in transforming the eLearning infrastructure at Makerere University.
“I am happy to be joining you in launching a project that is at the heart of National Council for Higher Education. Online learning is at the heart of the Council, not only because of the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the world is now a digital world.” Prof. Okwakol remarked.
Prof. Okwakol thanked Mastercard Foundation and other development partners who have continued to support initiatives that help transform higher institutions of learning in Uganda.
“I sincerely thank the Mastercard Foundation and other partners who have continued to support higher education in Uganda, especially in the area of research and online learning. Globally, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, greatly disrupted education systems forcing learners and some schools to shift to virtual learning to curb the spread of the pandemic.” Prof. Okwakol pointed out.
On his part, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe urged the university community, especially the academic staff to take advantage of the Mastercard Foundation E-learning initiative to develop e-content across all Colleges of the University, to enhance capacity for eLearning at Makerere University.
”I appeal to the Colleges to embrace this project and have as many courses adopt this pedagogy development system, even though students will continue with face-to face and phyisical learning, they should be allowed the option of online learning. The platforms that are going to be built, will give our students an opportunity to interact with international students, scholars, teachers and with each other.” Prof. Nawangwe applealed.
The Vice Chancellor, further called upon all other development partners to emulate Mastercard Foundation in supporting Makerere University and other universities on the entire African continent in strengthening digital literacy, so that Africa is not left behind.
”In 2018 I attended a conference on E-learning in Beijing China, where a critical question was asked; Will Africa be left behind again? This was in reference to many advancements that were taking place in the western world, in which Africa had been left behind.” The Vice Chancellor reminded the audience.
Prof. Nawangwe further emphaised the importance of e-learning as one of the critical modes of teaching and learning in the 21st first century.
”Ladies and Gentlemen, I cannot over emphasise the importance we attach to e-learning the 21st Century, that is why we took a decision to elevate the Department of Open and Distance Learning into an Institute of Open and Distance E-learning with an intention of having e-learning extended to other Colleges of the university.” Prof. Nawangwe pointed out.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs, and Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the E-learning Initiative, Prof. Umar Kakumba, rallied the University community to support the implementation of the project in the University.
“The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program E-learning initiative could not have come in at a better time than post COVID19 era. A pandemic, which exposed our systems and methods of teaching and learning. You all recall, when were hit by the pandemic, with lockdowns and closures of institutions of learning, we all went into a panicky mode on how were going to cope with online learning. I therefore call upon every member of the university to give this project the support it deserves.
Prof. Kakumba reminded the audience the importance and relevancy of online learning at Makerere University and other universities in Uganda.
“The online method of learning is best suited for everyone. This digital revolution has led to remarkable changes in how the content is accessed, consumed, discussed, and shared. Office goers and stay home mothers can take up online educational courses too, at the time that suits them. Depending on their availability and comfort, many people choose to learn at weekends or evenings.” Prof. Kakumba remarked.
Prof. Paul Birevu Muyinda, the Coordinator of the Mastercard Foundation E-learning Initiative, informed the audience the importance of the project and the expected outcomes for the University.
“The Mastercard Foundation e- Learning Initiative is a Project funded by Mastercard Foundation aimed at addressing the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic that constrained access and continuity of teaching, learning, research and community engagement activities at Makerere University” Prof. Muyinda pointed out.
Prof. Muyinda further thanked the team that he worked with in putting up the proposal in a very short time that yielded such an important grant for the University.
“I thank the team that spent sleepless nights putting together the proposal that resulted into this project. I must report that Makerere University is privileged to be having the most highly qualified persons in online instruction design and online pedagogy at the IODeL and beyond. It is now up to Makerere University in particular and the Country in general to make use of these persons to transform the terrain of online, blended distance and e-learning education.” Prof. Muyinda remarked.
Prof. Justine Namaalwa, the Program Coordinator for Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University, informed the audience, that the E-learning initiative was one of the many partnerships between Mastercard Foundation and Makerere University geared at supporting the young people to succeed on the African continent.
“The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program continues to recognize that in order to enable young people across Africa to succeed, there is need to; Address systemic barriers in Higher education, Strengthen the capacity of Institutions that serve the Young People, and Support innovative solutions across critical sectors.” Prof. Namaalwa remarked.
The colourful launch ended with a panel discussion in which panelists digested the importance and opportunities for open distance and eLearning in higher institutions of learning.
Bernard Buteera is the Communications Officer of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University.
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