General

First Makerere Workshop on Social Systems & Computation

Published

16 years ago

November 29, 2010

Summary Top researchers from Northwestern University (Chicago), University of British Columbia (Vancouver) and Makerere (Kampala) are teaming up to offer a workshop on cutting-edge methods for computational modeling of social systems, algorithm design, and machine learning. The sessions will take place between December 3rd and 10th, and there is no cost for attendance; however, registration is mandatory.

Summary Top researchers from Northwestern University (Chicago), University of British Columbia (Vancouver) and Makerere (Kampala) are teaming up to offer a workshop on cutting-edge methods for computational modeling of social systems, algorithm design, and machine learning. The sessions will take place between December 3rd and 10th, and there is no cost for attendance; however, registration is mandatory.

Attendance is limited to academic staff working at a Ugandan university; students doing research in related areas may also be given special permission to attend if space permits. Participants will have the opportunity to publish papers in official, reviewed workshop proceedings at a later date. A certificate of completion will be provided to participants who attend at least two thirds of workshop sessions.

Overview Traditionally, computer science has viewed data as coming from either an adversarial source or from nature itself, giving rise to worst-case and average-case design and analysis of optimization algorithms. In recent years with the advent of modern technologies like the Internet, it has become increasingly apparent that neither of these assumptions reflects reality. Data is neither adversarial nor average, but rather inputs to algorithms are constructed by a diverse set of self-interested agents in an economy, all aiming to maximize their own happiness. Thus the raw data is often not available to an algorithm designer, but must be solicited from the agents–that is, the designer faces an economic constraint. The primary goal of this workshop is to explore the implications of this observation. We will study the performance of algorithms in the presence of utility-maximizing agents and ask whether alternate designs might create incentives for agents to act more optimally. Simultaneously, we will look at other more traditional optimization problems such as approximation and learning and techniques to solve them, pointing out that these may often be leveraged to solve issues in the economic setting.

Related Research Areas Computer Science Theory; Artificial Intelligence; Economics; Business

Format The workshop will consist of six 3-hour lectures, plus meal/breakout sessions for informal research discussion. Spaces are strictly limited, and attendees must pre-register. We will aim to select topics and session times that are best for our participants. To register, and to indicate your preferences for topics and dates, please complete the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WWGMKZG.

List of Candidate Topics The workshop will consist of up to six of the following twelve topics.

Introduction to Game Theory
Game theory is the mathematical study of interaction among independent, self-interested agents. It has been applied to disciplines as diverse as economics, political science, biology, psychology, linguistics—and computer science. This tutorial will introduce what has become the dominant branch of game theory, called noncooperative game theory, and will specifically describe normal-form games, a canonical representation in this discipline. The tutorial will be motivated by the question: "In a strategic interaction, what joint outcomes make sense?"

Voting Theory
Voting (or "Social Choice") theory adopts a“designer perspective” to multiagent systems, asking what rules should be put in place by the authority (the “designer”) orchestrating a set of agents. Specifically, how should a central authority pool the preferences of different agents so as to best reflect the wishes of the population as a whole? (Contrast this with Game Theory, whichadopts what might be called the “agent perspective”: its focus is on making statements about how agents should or would act in a given situation.) This tutorial will describe famous voting rules, show problems with them, and explain Arrow's famous impossibility result.

Mechanism Design and Auctions
Social choice theory is nonstrategic: it takes the preferences of agents as given, and investigates ways in which they can be aggregated. But of course those preferences are usually not known. Instead, agents must be asked to declare them, which they may do dishonestly. Since as a designer you wish to find an optimal outcome with respect to the agents’ true preferences (e.g., electing a leader that truly reflects the agents’ preferences), optimizing with respect to the declared preferences will not in general achieve the objective. This tutorial will introduce Mechanism Design, the study of identifying socially desirable protocols for making decisions in such settings. It will describe the core principles behind this theory, and explain the famous "Vickrey-Clarke-Groves" mechanism, an ingenious technique for selecting globally-utility-maximizing outcomes even among selfish agents. It will also describe Auction Theory, the most famous application of mechanism design. Auctions are mechanisms that decide who should receive a scarce resource, and that impose payments upon some or all participants, based on agents' "bids".

Constraint Satisfaction Problem Solving
This hands-on tutorial will teach participants about solving Constraint Satisfaction Problems using search and constraint propagation techniques. This is a representation language from artificial intelligence, used to describe problems in scheduling, circuit verification, DNA structure prediction, vehicle routing, and many other practical problems. The tutorial will consider the problem of solving Sudoku puzzles as a running example. By the end of the session, participants will have written software (in Python) capable of solving any Sudoku puzzle in less than a second.

Bayesian methods and Probabilisitic Inference
Bayesian methods are commonly used for recognising patterns and making predictions in the fields of medicine, economics, finance and engineering, powering all manner of applications from fingerprint recognition to spam filters to robotic self-driving cars. This session will show how principles of probability can be used when making inferences from large datasets, covering issues such as prior knowledge and hyperpriors, the construction of "belief networks", and nonparametric methods such as Gaussian processes. Several applications will be demonstrated.

Computer Vision

It is useful to be able to automatically answer questions about an image, such as "is this the face of person X?", "how many cars are there on this street?" or "is there anything unusual about this x-ray?". This session will look at some of the current state of the art in computer vision techniques, including methods for representing the information in an image (feature extraction), and to recognise objects in an image given such a representation. We will particularly spend some time looking at approaches which have been found to work well empirically on object recognition, such as generalised Hough transforms, boosted cascades of Haar wavelet classifiers, and visual bag-of-words methods. Locally relevant applications in crop disease diagnosis, parasite detection in blood samples and traffic monitoring will be demonstrated as illustrating examples.

Learning Causal Structure from Data
Until a few decades ago, it was thought to be impossible to learn causes and effects from purely observational data without doing experiments. Sometimes, however, it is impossible to do experiments (e.g. in some branches of genetics), or experiments may be costly or unethical (e.g. situations in climate change or medicine), so the emergence of computational methods for distinguishing causes, effects and confounding variables is likely to have wide implications. Some principles are now understood for learning the causal structure between different variables, and this session will explain the most successful current approaches, their possibilities and their limitations.

Internet Search and Monetization
The internet is one of the most fundamental and important applications of computer science. Central to its existence are search engines which enable us to find content on the web. This module focuses on the algorithms like PageRank that these search engines use to help us find webpages. It also studies how these engines make money through advertising.

Social Networks
Social networks describe the structure of interpersonal relationships and have many alarmingly predictable properties. While most people have just a few friends, most social networks have at least a few very popular people. Furthermore, most people are closely linked to every other person so that a message (or an idea or a disease) can spread rapidly throughout the network. Finally, social networks tend to be fairly clustered — i.e., if two people share a common friend it is quite likely that they are also friends. This module will discuss the typical structures of social networks, models that explain these structures, and the impact of these structures on activities in the social network such as message routing or the adoption of new technologies.

Two-Sided Matching Markets
Many markets involve two “sides'' that wish to be matched to one another. For example, a marriage market matches women to men; a job market matches workers to employers. In such settings, people on each side have strict preferences over the options on the other side of the market. Hence, a woman Julie may like David best, John second best, and Christopher third. David on the other hand may prefer Mary to Julie. In such settings, what matches might we expect to form? Can these matches be computed by a centralized algorithm, a match-maker for example, and what are the corresponding incentives of the participants? These questions are of fundamental importance as such centralized algorithms are in use in many important markets. In many countries, medical students are matched to hospitals using such algorithms, or school children to schools.

Approximation Algorithms
In the field of algorithms, many tasks turn out to be computationally difficult. That is, the time to complete the task is fundamentally large compared to the size of the problem. For example, consider the problem of finding the optimal way to visit 10 cities, visiting each exactly once. To minimize travel time, one could test all possible travel schedules, but for 10 cities there are already 3.5M of them! Unfortunately, there is not a significantly quicker way to find the optimal solution. However, one can find an approximately optimal solution quickly. That is, with just a few things to check, one can design a schedule that takes at most 50% more time than the optimal one. In this module we showcase a few general techniques for computing approximate solutions to hard problems, including the use of randomization and linear programming.

Graph Theory
A graph is a combinatorial object consisting of nodes and edges, and is a extremely valuable abstraction of many practical problems. For example, nodes might represent jobs and edges might connect pairs of jobs that can not be performed simultaneously. Alternatively, nodes might represent electronic components on a circuit board and edges the wiring that connects them. Many questions that arise in such domains can be cast as an optimization question in the corresponding graph. The number of workers required to complete all jobs in fixed time frame in the first example is at its heart a graph coloring problem. Asking whether one can lay out the circuit board so no two wires cross becomes the problem of determining which graphs have planar representations. This course defines graphs, shows how to solve a few fundamental graph problems, and applies them to practical settings.

Speaker Bios

Nicole Immorlica is an assistant professor in the Economics Group of Northwestern University's EECS department in Chicago, IL, USA. She joined Northwestern in Fall 2008 after postdoctoral positions at Microsoft Research in Seattle, Washington, USA and Centruum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She received her Ph.D. from MIT in Boston, MA, USA, in 2005 under the joint supervision of Erik Demaine and David Karger. Her main research area is algorithmic game theory where she investigates economic and social implications of modern technologies including social networks, advertising auctions, and online auction design.

Kevin Leyton-Brown is an associate professor in computer science at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He received a B.Sc. from McMaster University (1998), and an M.Sc. and PhD from Stanford University (2001; 2003). Much of his work is at the intersection of computer science and microeconomics, addressing computational problems in economic contexts and incentive issues in multiagent systems. He also studies the application of machine learning to the automated design and analysis of algorithms for solving hard computational problems.

John Quinn is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at Makerere University. He received a BA in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge (2000) and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (2007). He coordinates the Machine Learning Group at Makerere, and his research interests are in pattern recognition and computer vision particularly applied to developing world problems.

General

Makerere University Leads EU-Funded MAGNETISE Project to Strengthen Gender Equality in Higher Education Across Sub-Saharan Africa

Published

18 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Harriet Musinguzi

Policies exist, but lived change lags behind; a concern raised at the Consortium convened by the MAGNETIZE project, June 2026. Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (MAGNETISE) Project supported by the European Union and implemented through a multi-country partnership involving institutions in Uganda, South Africa, and Europe high-level workshop for policymakers, researchers, and gender experts to reflect on institutional progress, persistent gaps, and future strategies, June 2026, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB), Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

A consortium of African and European universities has intensified efforts to mainstream gender equality in higher education through the MAGNETISE project, with Makerere University taking a leading role in hosting a high-level workshop that brought together policymakers, researchers, and gender experts to reflect on institutional progress, persistent gaps, and future strategies.

The initiative, focused on Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (MAGNETISE), is supported by the European Union and implemented through a multi-country partnership involving institutions in Uganda, South Africa, and Europe. It aims to move beyond policy formulation to practical implementation, monitoring, and institutional accountability in gender equality.

At the heart of the discussions was a shared concern: while universities across the region have developed gender policies over the past decades, translating these frameworks into measurable, lived institutional change remains uneven.

A Consortium Approach to Gender Mainstreaming in Academia

Professor James Acai Okwee, Project Lead and Deputy Principal of CoVAB, (Center) highlights MAGNETISE as a collaborative effort driving innovation and partnership. Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (MAGNETISE) Project supported by the European Union and implemented through a multi-country partnership involving institutions in Uganda, South Africa, and Europe high-level workshop for policymakers, researchers, and gender experts to reflect on institutional progress, persistent gaps, and future strategies, June 2026, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB), Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — ***Professor James Acai Okwee, Project Lead and Deputy Principal of CoVAB, (Center) highlights MAGNETISE as a collaborative effort driving innovation and partnership.***

Opening the workshop, held at Makerere University recently, the project lead, Professor James Acai Okwee who is also deputy Principal CoVAB, described MAGNETISE as a collaborative effort designed to strengthen institutional capacity for gender equality planning across higher education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He explained that the consortium includes Ugandan partners such as Makerere University and Muni University, alongside South African institutions including University of KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes University, and Nelson Mandela University. European partners include Katholieke Hoge school VIVES Zuid (VIVES) and KMOP Policy Centre from Belgium, as well as Research Innovation and Development Lab (ReadLab) and University of Peloponnese. The consortium also includes additional European academic collaboration through the University of Applied Sciences and related policy and research networks.

According to Acai, the core objective is not simply to produce policies, but to ensure universities develop functional gender equality plans supported by implementation tools, monitoring frameworks, and institutional accountability systems.

“We have had policies since the early 2000s, but the real question is: where is the implementation plan, and how do we track progress?” he noted. “If a policy says 40 percent representation for women in leadership, we must be able to measure whether that is being achieved.”

He emphasized that MAGNETISE would support training, capacity-building exchanges with European institutions, student engagement programmes, and the development of a digital knowledge hub for gender equality.

Makerere University’s Institutional Position on Gender Equality

Representing university leadership, Dr. Suzan Mbabazi of Makerere University’s Gender Mainstreaming Directorate reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to advancing gender equality across its academic, research, and community engagement mandate. She highlighted significant progress made over more than two decades, citing policies such as the Gender Equality Policy and the Regulations Against Sexual Harassment, alongside governance frameworks that have institutionalized gender equity. Makerere has also established key structures, including the Institute of Gender and Development Studies and the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate, to coordinate initiatives across faculties. Yet, Dr. Mbabazi cautioned that structural achievements do not erase systemic challenges. “Despite progress globally and locally, we must acknowledge persistent gaps, biases, and inequalities within higher education institutions,” she said, stressing the need to bridge policy and practice. She urged participants to prioritize awareness creation, institutional analysis of existing gaps, and deliberate action to dismantle structural barriers. Reaffirming management’s support, she called for continued collaboration among institutions and stakeholders to sustain momentum in gender mainstreaming.

Preliminary Survey Findings Reveal Mixed Progress

Presenting the initial findings of a university-wide survey, Dr. Peace Musiimenta of the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University revealed that responses from 82 participants across various units highlight both progress and persistent challenges in advancing gender equality. While many acknowledged strides in gender mainstreaming, structural and cultural barriers remain entrenched. The study found that although gender policies exist, their implementation is often inconsistent, and initiatives risk being treated as isolated projects rather than integrated institutional practices. Dr. Musiimenta noted that some staff perceive gender programs as overly focused on women, fueling resistance and ideological tensions within academic spaces. She emphasized that the challenge is no longer the absence of policy but the need to ensure visibility, ownership, and effective application of existing frameworks to embed gender equality across the institution.

Gender Audit Highlights Structural Gaps and Progress

Dr. Florence Ebila (2nd from left) presenting preliminary findings from the institutional gender audit (May–June 2026), highlighting gaps in policy implementation, leadership representation, and organizational culture. Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (MAGNETISE) Project supported by the European Union and implemented through a multi-country partnership involving institutions in Uganda, South Africa, and Europe high-level workshop for policymakers, researchers, and gender experts to reflect on institutional progress, persistent gaps, and future strategies, June 2026, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB), Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — Dr. Florence Ebila (2nd from left) presenting preliminary findings from the institutional gender audit (May–June 2026), highlighting gaps in policy implementation, leadership representation, and organizational culture.

Expanding on the institutional audit, Dr. Florence Ebila outlined the methodology and preliminary findings of the gender audit conducted between May and June 2026.She explained that the audit examined institutional policies, governance systems, practices, organizational culture, and perceptions of gender equality.

The study drew data from multiple administrative units including human resources, academic registrars, estates and works departments, and student leadership structures. Ebila reported that Makerere University has made significant institutional progress, including the establishment of gender-focused units and integration of gender considerations into teaching, research, and governance. However, she identified persistent disparities in representation, particularly in science-related disciplines where male staff and students remain dominant.

She also highlighted infrastructural gaps, noting that while newer buildings are increasingly accessible, several older facilities lack adequate support for persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

Another concern raised was limited gender-responsive budgeting, with insufficient allocation of resources to sustain gender mainstreaming activities across all units. “The challenge is not just policy design, but operationalization at all levels of the institution,” she said.

Gender, Identity, and Institutional Culture: A Critical Reflection

A keynote reflection by Dr Josephine Ahikire introduced a deeper theoretical lens to the discussion, situating gender mainstreaming within broader questions of institutional power, identity, and cultural norms.

Ahikire emphasized that gender mainstreaming is not a technical exercise but a structural transformation process that challenges entrenched systems of privilege.

She used the example of Makerere University’s centenary monument, where a male graduate is prominently positioned in front view while a female graduate is placed at the rear, to illustrate how symbolic representations can reflect deeper institutional biases.

“What appears natural often hides embedded inequality,” she argued. “Even symbolic structures matter because they reflect how institutions imagine gender.”

Ahikire acknowledged Makerere University’s progress in policy development and institutional frameworks but cautioned that deeper cultural transformation is still required.

She emphasized the need to interrogate curriculum design, research systems, and informal institutional practices that may perpetuate inequality despite formal commitments to inclusion.

She further argued that gender discourse must retain its political dimension, noting that terms such as feminism should not be avoided but engaged critically in order to address structural inequality.

“Gender equality work is not about comfort,” she said. “It is about questioning established norms and rethinking how power is distributed.”

Institutional Achievements and Remaining Challenges

Across presentations, several common themes emerged.

Participants acknowledged that Makerere University has developed one of the most advanced gender mainstreaming frameworks in the region, including:

A dedicated gender equality policy framework
Sexual harassment regulations and safeguarding policies
Institutional gender mainstreaming structures
Student engagement programmes and gender clubs
Scholarships supporting women in science and disadvantaged backgrounds
Increasing integration of gender into teaching and research

However, speakers consistently highlighted persistent challenges, including:

Limited implementation of gender policies at departmental level
Uneven representation of women in senior academic ranks
Infrastructure gaps affecting accessibility and inclusion
Weak gender-responsive budgeting mechanisms
Resistance and misunderstanding of gender equality concepts
Fragmentation of gender work across isolated units

Towards a Comprehensive Gender Equality Plan

A key outcome of the MAGNETISE project is the development of a comprehensive institutional gender equality plan for Makerere University, supported by monitoring tools and a sustainability framework.

The plan is expected to consolidate existing policies into a coherent implementation strategy, linking institutional commitments to measurable outcomes.

It will also include a handbook for monitoring gender equality initiatives and a digital platform for knowledge sharing among students and staff.

Project leaders emphasized that sustainability will depend on institutional ownership beyond donor funding, particularly through integration into university governance systems.

A Continuing Institutional Journey

The workshop concluded with a shared recognition that gender equality in higher education remains a work in progress, requiring sustained institutional commitment, cultural transformation, and accountability mechanisms.

While Makerere University has made notable progress over the past decades, speakers agreed that the next phase of gender mainstreaming must focus on implementation, visibility, and structural change.

As the MAGNETISE project continues across partner institutions in Africa and Europe, it positions itself not only as a research initiative, but as a long-term institutional reform effort aimed at reshaping how universities understand and operationalize gender equality in higher education.

General

Fees Waiver Female Scholarship 2026/2027

Published

2 days ago

June 24, 2026

Mak Editor

Fees Waiver Female Scholarship Announcement for 2026/2027 Academic Year. Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD), Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

In December 2010 Makerere University Council approved establishment of a Fees Waiver Scholarship Scheme that supports bright female students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to access education at Makerere University. The first cohort of the scheme was recruited in 2011, and the scheme’s implementation is coordinated by the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate. The University waives off tuition and functional fees for the duration of the study programme of the beneficiaries of the scheme.

In the 2026/2027 academic year 40 scholarship slots are available for female students joining the University who meet the criteria competitively. All Programmes in the Colleges at Makerere University main campus and at Makerere University Jinja Campus are eligible for the Scholarship. Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

NOTE: The Scholarship covers tuition and functional fees ONLY. Successful applicants must be able to pay for their feeding, accommodation and other learning necessities required by the University for the duration of their study period.

The Application deadline is Friday, 7^th August 2026 at 5:00 pm.

See downloads for detailed announcement and application form.

For more information or inquiries, please use any of the following contacts:

Mobile Number: +256757391098 +256700198999 & +256774618071 (During working hours.)
Email Address: director.gendermainstreaming@mak.ac.ug

Makerere-Gender-Mainstreaming-Fees-Waiver-Female-Scholarship-2026-27-Poster Download

Makerere-Gender-Mainstreaming-Fees-Waiver-Female-Scholarship-2026-27-Application-Form Download

General

Makerere University Set to Develop Curriculum to Transform Graduate Supervision and Mentorship

Published

4 days ago

June 22, 2026

Mak Editor

Prof. Julius Kikooma (Centre) with stakeholders at the Workshop on 18th June 2026. Stakeholders’ Curriculum Development Consultation Workshop organized by the Directorate of Graduate Training in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS) to develop a curriculum for a specialized Certificate Course in Supervision and Mentoring for Graduate Training and Higher Education Management, 18th June 2026, Senate Building Telepresence Hall, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

_{By Moses Lutaaya}

KAMPALA – Makerere University is set to develop a curriculum for a specialized Certificate Course in Supervision and Mentoring for Graduate Training and Higher Education Management, in a move aimed at professionalizing graduate supervision and strengthening the capacity of academic staff to deliver quality postgraduate education.

The proposed programme will equip academic staff with advanced competencies in graduate-level teaching, research supervision, mentorship, and higher education management, while supporting the University’s agenda of improving the quality and relevance of graduate training.

The curriculum development process was discussed during a Stakeholders’ Curriculum Development Consultation Workshop held on Thursday, 18^th June 2026 at the Senate Building Telepresence Hall, Makerere University.

The workshop, organized by the Directorate of Graduate Training in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS), brought together curriculum specialists, academic staff, and higher education stakeholders to review and enrich the proposed curriculum before it proceeds through the University approval processes.

Participants included 11 lecturers from the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), 3 from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), 2 from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security (CoVAB), 1 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), 4 from the College of Education and External Studies (CEES), among others.

The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) was represented by Dr. Patrice Ssembirige, Deputy Executive Director in charge of Curriculum Review and Instructional Materials Development. The Centre for Teaching and Learning team was led by Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa, while Dr. Stephen Wandera coordinated the workshop.

Addressing participants, Prof. Julius Kikooma, Director Graduate Training at Makerere University, said the curriculum development initiative is central to strengthening graduate education and ensuring that academic staff are adequately prepared to support postgraduate learners.

Prof. Julius Kikooma. Stakeholders’ Curriculum Development Consultation Workshop organized by the Directorate of Graduate Training in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS) to develop a curriculum for a specialized Certificate Course in Supervision and Mentoring for Graduate Training and Higher Education Management, 18th June 2026, Senate Building Telepresence Hall, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — ***Prof. Julius Kikooma.***

Prof. Kikooma noted that Makerere University is targeting an increase in graduate student enrolment to 50 percent of the total student population, but emphasized that this ambition must be matched with investment in the capacity of academic staff who supervise and mentor students.

“We can get many graduate students, but if the people supporting them do not have the right tools and preparation, we will still have challenges,” Prof. Kikooma said.

He explained that the initiative responds to University policies requiring academic staff teaching graduate students to undergo pedagogical training, while those supervising graduate research must undergo specialized preparation in supervision and mentoring.

Prof. Kikooma said graduate supervision requires deliberate preparation because supervisors play a central role in shaping research quality, student success, and the overall effectiveness of postgraduate programmes.

He further emphasized Makerere University’s responsibility as a leading institution in the region.

“We have a double expectation. We must support the country to achieve its aspirations in national development, but we also have an expectation from other institutions to support them in building graduate training capacity. In that sense, we are a trainer of trainers,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), Dr. Patrice Ssembirige commended Makerere University for adopting a consultative and inclusive approach to curriculum development.

Dr. Patrice Ssembirige. Stakeholders’ Curriculum Development Consultation Workshop organized by the Directorate of Graduate Training in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS) to develop a curriculum for a specialized Certificate Course in Supervision and Mentoring for Graduate Training and Higher Education Management, 18th June 2026, Senate Building Telepresence Hall, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — ***Dr. Patrice Ssembirige.***

He noted that education systems globally are undergoing significant transformation, requiring continuous curriculum review and alignment with emerging needs.

“Education systems globally are undergoing significant transformation, and in Uganda, NCDC has been leading and spearheading the implementation of the competency-based curriculum,” Dr. Ssembirige said.

He explained that NCDC has developed competency-based curriculum frameworks at primary and lower secondary levels and is currently advancing reforms at upper secondary level, which feeds into higher education institutions.

Dr. Ssembirige said the new curriculum presents an opportunity to align graduate training with global trends, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), international best practices, and national development priorities.

“As we develop this curriculum, we need to align with global trends, SDGs and international best practices. We also need to undertake comparative analysis because curriculum reforms are taking place across East African Community states,” he noted.

He encouraged developers to ensure that the programme follows competency-based principles and equips participants with relevant 21st-century skills.

“Since we are talking about competency-based curriculum, we must be cognizant of the principles of competency-based education and ensure that we develop skills that fit the demands of the 21st century,” he added.

Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support at Makerere University, said the initiative marks an important step in strengthening professional development for academic staff involved in graduate education.

Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa (front) with participants. Stakeholders’ Curriculum Development Consultation Workshop organized by the Directorate of Graduate Training in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS) to develop a curriculum for a specialized Certificate Course in Supervision and Mentoring for Graduate Training and Higher Education Management, 18th June 2026, Senate Building Telepresence Hall, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — ***Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa (front) with participants.***

She noted that effective supervision requires more than disciplinary expertise, but also skills in mentorship, communication, research guidance, ethics, assessment, and student support.

“The quality of graduate education depends on the quality of mentorship and supervision we provide. This curriculum will strengthen the capacity of academic staff to guide graduate students effectively, improve research outcomes, and uphold the standards expected of a leading university,” Dr. Ssebowa said.

She added that the Centre for Teaching and Learning will continue working with the Directorate of Graduate Training, academic colleges, curriculum specialists, and regulators to ensure the programme remains relevant and impactful.

During the workshop, stakeholders reviewed the proposed curriculum structure, course content, competency areas, assessment strategies, quality assurance mechanisms, and alignment with national and international standards.

Once finalized, the programme is expected to strengthen graduate supervision at Makerere University and serve as a model for professional development across higher education institutions in Uganda and beyond.