Makerere’s innovative application of technology and ICTs to teaching as well as other systems has been creatively captured by Weaving Success: Voices of Change in African Higher Education, a book published by the Institute for International Education (IIE).

Makerere’s innovative application of technology and ICTs to teaching as well as other systems has been creatively captured by Weaving Success: Voices of Change in African Higher Education, a book published by the Institute for International Education (IIE).

The 239page book released on 2nd November 2011 at the 3rd World Innovation Summit on Education in Doha was written by Megan Lindow, and creatively documents the 10-year history of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA), a $440 million investment and collaboration by seven major U.S. foundations to strengthen and support universities in nine African countries.

The book cites Makerere’s PhD in Plant Breeding and Technology, which harnesses the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences(CAES)’ high concentration of plant breeding experts to help equip scientists from Eastern and Southern Africa with skills in producing better crop varieties, resistant to drought and plant diseases.

The Bandwidth Consortium; a PHEA supported group of 11 universities and two higher education institution is further hailed for subsidizing the cost of expensive satellite bandwidth, a feat that fostered research collaborations and promoted “sandwich” programmes for PhD students, who divided their time between Makerere and Sweden.

Furthermore, the book examines the impact of the iLabs Shared Architecture programme developed by MIT on training engineering students at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology(CEDAT), through elimination of equipment constraints by use of online laboratories. The college has since then gone on to introduce the project in other Ugandan universities and High Schools.

“The stories in the book include a profile of a Ugandan inventor whose countless innovations have improved the lives of school girls, farmers, refugees and rural health practitioners,” says Megan Lindow the author, in reference to Dr. Moses Musaazi’s makapads project.

The writer goes ahead to highlight a host of other innovations in her book, available under the Downloads section below

Downloads

Weaving Success: Voices of Change in African Higher Education: pdf(9,639KB)

Press Release: New Volume on African Higher Education Partnership Tells of Innovation and Change Across Campuses and National Boundaries: pdf(165KB)