The Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (L) presents a copy of his book titled "A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad." to the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Ddumba-Ssentamu on 30th October 2012 in the Council Room, Makerere University.
“The growth in wealth has been quite fast, but we have also managed to wipe out poverty in Malaysia,” said His Excellency Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia.
On Wednesday 30th October 2012, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, members of management, staff and student representatives assembled in the Main Building Council room to welcome and listen to the words of wisdom from the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, H.E Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The former Prime Minister is credited with providing the critical leadership that accelerated Malaysia’s transformation from a predominantly agrarian economy into an industrial powerhouse.
“Oil exploration is a venture that brings a lot of added advantage. Because our oil reserves were small, we decided that we must participate and learn every aspect of oil exploration and production. When we started, our oil price was only 20 dollars per barrel. But today, our oil price is 100 dollars per barrel,”said His Excellency Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who served for 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The former Prime Minister also stressed the need to focus on education and better infrastructure to spur the development of any country. “We believe in education. The Government of Malaysia commits 25% of the national budget on education. We need knowledge and people skills to develop the country. “I am happy that the desire to acquire knowledge is great among Malaysians,” he said.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Professor Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza (middle) leads the Malaysian delegation to the Council Room right is Mama Siti Hasmah, the wife to His Excellency Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
Al-Haji Habib Kagimu, the Chairman of Habib Investments (Habib Oil) and also a Trustee of the Makerere University Private Sector Forum described H.E Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as a transformational leader who stood up to challenge the World Bank model, and instead developed a model to transform a least developed country to one of the best success stories in the world.
At this historic visit to Makerere University, H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad accompanied by his wife, Mama Siti Hasmah, and Chancellor of Multi-Media University of Malaysia led a high powered business delegation from Malaysia’s energy, manufacturing, telecommunication and oil sectors.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor John Ddumba-Ssentamu welcomed the former Prime Minister and his delegation to Makerere University. He informed the distinguished guests that at the time of their visit, Makerere University was marking 90 years of existence, and has therefore significantly contributed to human resource development at the national and international levels. Professor Dddumba-Ssentamu thanked the Government of Uganda for supporting the promotion of science and technology in Makerere University. He informed the delegation that Makerere faces a number of challenges.
“Makerere University, however, faces a number of challenges such as inadequate funding and limited resources for research. I am quite positive that these challenges can be overcome especially when we partner with institutions in Malaysia. We are hopeful that the business community in Malaysia can collaborate with Makerere University to overcome some of these challenges,” remarked the Vice Chancellor.
Hon. Ephraim Kamuntu, Minister of Water and Environment and an alumnus of Makerere University noted that at the time of
His Excellency, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad expressed his joy at finally being able to personally visit Makerere University, having previously only read about the 90 year old institution. He was therefore happy to make his maiden trip and address the Management, academia and staff on Wednesday 31st October 2012. independence in 1962, Uganda was at the same level of development with Malaysia. Hon. Kamuntu said that as Uganda celebrates her golden jubilee of independence, the visit of to Uganda very important because Ugandans aspire to move from least developed to first world status. In the same spirit, Hon. Kamuntu also commended H.E Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to Makerere University. “If any transformation is to happen in Uganda, it must be hatched at Makerere University. This is the cradle of the transformation of ideas,” he stressed.
His Excellency, further stressed the significance of his visit to Makerere University as testament of the Government and the people of Malaysia’s belief in education, and their focus on initiating partnerships between Uganda and Makerere University on one hand and the business community in Malaysia on the other.
He then embarked on sharing the success story that saw Malaysia grow into an industrial power base:
“The first objective was to create jobs for Malaysians. When people are jobless, they think about how unfortunate they are, and they become anti-government. In order to create jobs, the Government of Malaysia provided land for farming to the people who were unemployed,” he said.
In addition, the Government of Malaysia embarked on industrialization focusing on labour- intensive industries. The Government also provided subsidies to rice growing in order to reduce the cost of living.
“We need a strong government to develop the country. Stability contributes to development. Attending to the problem of unemployment in Malaysia is responsible for our stability,” he said.
The Government of Malaysia also invited foreign investors to set up industries which would provide jobs to Malaysians. We prioritized the issue of local content and the Malaysians were able to acquire the required skills and knowledge in different sectors.
He was proud to mention that today, Malaysians are not only investing in the country, but also outside the country.
“With our small oil reserves, we decided that we must participate and learn every aspect of oil exploration and production. With the knowledge and skills acquired, the Malaysians decided to take on the oil business. I am pleased to mention that Malaysian oil companies are conducting businesses in other countries.
[L-R] Mama Siti Hasmah, H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Professor John Ddumba-Ssentamu in the Council Room, Main Building on 30th September 2012.
The Government of Malaysia also focused on increasing wealth through prioritising the education sector and entered into partnership with the private sector to provide state-of-the art infrastructure. The Government owns a part of the privatized telecommunication companies, and a lot of infrastructure is privatized.
“Many people think that privatization is a capitalist evil, but we turned to privatization because nationalization had been repeatedly proven to be a socialist mistake. The big privatization project, however, is not for everybody-it must go to people who have the capacity and proven record of success,” states a powerful quote extracted from his Memoirs, page 500-504.
Concluding his message on economic development, wealth and oil exploration, His Excellency, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad informed the congregation in Council Room that everyone has a role to play in building the Uganda they would like to be associated with. He advised that the academia and every Ugandan should ask the question- What do we want to do for our country?
His Excellency then presented to a book titled “A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.” The book has 843 pages, and the preface states, “This is the story of Malaysia as I see it. This is also my story.”
In the same book, from page 500-504, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia provides a working formula for nationalization and privatization highlighting where each model works best.
Also impressed by the Vehicle design Project –Kiira Electric Vehicle by the students from Makerere University‘s College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), His Excellency pledged to initiate strong linkages between the Makerere University students and their counterparts in Malaysia working on similar projects.
The former Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Professor Livingstone Luboobi and the Chairperson of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA), Dr. Tanga Odoi , Principals and Deans were part of the congregation that listened to the message on development, wealth, oil exploration and a good will invitation for partnership with Malaysian institutions and business community.
In moving a vote of thanks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Professor Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza expressed Makerere‘s gratitude to H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s for presenting the institution with a golden opportunity link up with the Malaysian universities and business community.
Article by Ritah Namisango Senior Public Relations Officer.
Makerere University has noted with concern the article titled “Mak Drops Marks” published by the Daily Monitor Newspaper on 8th July 2025. The article raises issues that require clarification to ensure accurate information is shared with our stakeholders and the public. We wish to address the following key points:
1. Misrepresentation of Ranking Data
The article inaccurately combines the Sub-Saharan African University Rankings and the World University Rankings to portray a misleading performance trend for Makerere University. For clarity, Makerere University was ranked 8th in the 2024 Sub-Saharan African University Rankings. However, the 2025 Sub-Saharan African Rankings have not yet been released, making any comparison with the World University Rankings is misleading. This is a misrepresentation of facts aimed at tarnishing the University’s reputation and causing alarm among stakeholders.
2. Omission of Impact Rankings Achievements
The article fails to acknowledge Makerere University’s outstanding performance in the 2025 Impact Rankings, which assess contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Makerere University significantly improved its global standing, moving from the 601–800 band in 2024 to the 301–400 band in 2025. Notably, the University ranked 17th globally in Decent Work and Economic Growth and within the 401–600 band for Quality Education. These achievements reflect Makerere’s commitment to societal impact and sustainable development, which the article conspicuously ignores.
3. Balanced Perspective on World University Rankings
While Makerere University acknowledges a decline in certain parameters in the World University Rankings, we view these as areas for improvement. At the same time, we celebrate our strengths, including high-quality research output and a robust international outlook, which continue to position Makerere as a leading institution globally.
Makerere University remains committed to excellence in teaching, research, and societal impact. We urge our stakeholders and the public to rely on verified information from credible sources and to engage directly with the University for clarity on such matters. We acknowledge the Daily Monitor’s interest in Makerere University and implore them to report more accurately in the future.
The Academic Registrar, Makerere University invites applications from Ugandan, East African, and international applicants for the undergraduate programmes under Self Sponsorship Scheme for the 2025/2026 Academic Year.
Each applicant should:
a) Have the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) with at least five passes, or its equivalent and at least two principal passes at Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) obtained at the same sitting. For day programmes, only candidates who sat A’ Level in 2024, 2023 and 2020 are eligible to apply. For evening, afternoon, and external programmes, a candidate is not restricted on the year of sitting A’ Level.
OR
d) Degree from a recognised /Chartered Institution
Further details on the re-advertised programmes , fees structure, and the procedure of submitting applications can be accessed from the document below:
The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released lists of Successful appeals and supplementary lists. Below is a list arising from appeals of Government Sponsored candidates who have been admitted: