General
First Year Interns Shine, Impress NAADS Boss
“I was deeply impressed by the depth of knowledge exhibited by you the First Year Students and I congratulate the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Administration for the great mentorship to these students. This is a very good foundation for an equally good crop of future scientists,” remarked the Chief Guest Dr. Samuel Mugasi. The National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) Executive Director was speaking after a tour of various projects exhibited by over fifty First Year Students of Agriculture, Food Science and Technology, and Horticulture at the Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo (MUARIK) on Friday 8th August 2014.
The exhibition held after a 10-week residential Internship at MUARIK gives First Year students the perfect platform to demonstrate to their peers, Lecturers, prospective employers and members of the general public all the skills they have been taught during the intense theoretical and practical sessions. The areas covered included Plant Tissue Culture, Nursery Bed Establishment, Mushroom Cultivation, Artificial Colostrum Making, Urea Molasses Mineral Block Making, Compost Manure Making, Soil Fertility Testing as well as the Use of Ox Ploughs. The Students also went on to exhibit skills in Soil and Water Conservation in Banana Plantations, Raised-bed Vegetable growing, Poultry Management, Feed Mixing, Silage Making, as well as knowledge of diseases that affect pig production like African Swine Fever.
On the Human nutrition front students of Food Science and Technology educated their audience on the importance of good nutrition and thereafter invited all present including the Chief Guest Dr. Mugasi to have their Body Mass Index (BMI) and Blood Pressure checked. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the students shared tips on how to turn juice making into a profitable business and thereafter participants were treated to a demonstration of the Mobile-fruit processor in action.
Commenting on all he had witnessed, The Chief Guest Dr. Mugasi said “I am confident that all of you will have jobs after you graduate, although I do not encourage you to look for jobs as the skills exhibited here today have proved that you are capable of self-employment.” He further shared that NAADS’ current transformation started 5 years back and under the new structure, 13,000 extension worker positions had been created.
“We currently have between 4,000 to 5,000 of these positions filled. Therefore assuming that the College graduates 400 students per year, you would need close to 20 years to fill all these positions,” added the Chief Guest.
Representing the CAES Administration, the Head, Department of Agricultural Production Dr. Denis Mpairwe congratulated the Internship coordinators Dr. Wasswa and Dr. Sadhat Walusimbi upon a job well done. He further commended the students upon their active participation and display of keen interest in all activities they were engaged in.
“Through your internship training you have learnt how to write business plans and demonstrated that you can put them into practice. I encourage all of you that have your plans ready to submit them so that you can compete for funding to advance your projects. All you will be required to pay back is the initial loan amount,” said Dr. Mpairwe, before adding “Mr. Apollo Segawa the Managing Director CURAD is also here with us today and has access to funding for agribusiness to help develop your projects” as the excited students cheered at the prospect.
He further affirmed the students that they would never regret having taken their respective courses as records showed that by Graduation, 60% of the students were already gainfully employed. “These courses prepare you for all sectors and so I advise you to love your course and in case you have any problem, please let your Student leadership and the Administration know. You have demonstrated great skills here and thanks to the presence of the Media, the whole world now knows how capable you are,” he concluded.
Dr. Sadhat Walusimbi on behalf of the Internship Coordinators commended the students upon their great discipline throughout their stay at MUARIK. He also thanked the CAES and MUARIK Administration for all the support in making the internship successful. “I also thank you the Gayaza community for honouring our invitations and attending this exhibition,” he said to the great number of community members represented.
Speaking on behalf of their fellow students Mr. Isabirye Hamidu and Mr. Alex Madolo urged their peers to take up the College’s offer of funding so as to advance their projects. They however appealed to the administration to improve and expand the ICT facilities at MUARIK.
Article by Public Relations Office
CURAD is the Consortium for enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development Limited (CURAD) with a vision to be the leading generator of young agribusiness entrepreneurs creating wealth and jobs in East Africa. It is located at Block F13, Makerere University Agirucultural Research Institute Kabanyolo (MUARIK), CAES, Makerere University. Please visit http://www.curadincubator.org/ for more information
Makerere University has officially launched its Strategic Plan 2025-2030, marking a major milestone in its commitment to strengthening research, innovation, and human capital development in line with Uganda’s national development priorities.
The launch brought together senior government officials, university leadership, and development planners, including the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Henry Musasizi, and a representative from the National Planning Authority (NPA), alongside the University Vice Chancellor.
A Vision Anchored in National Transformation
Speaking at the launch, the Vice Chancellor underscored the University’s ambition to significantly expand graduate training and strengthen its contribution to national development. He noted that the institution is targeting a return to pre-COVID enrolment levels and a substantial increase in postgraduate numbers by 2030, with a focus on producing highly skilled graduates, innovators, and researchers.
He emphasized that the Strategic Plan positions the University as a key driver of Uganda’s transformation through knowledge generation, innovation, and entrepreneurship, aligned with national priorities.
“The staffing distribution is shown here. Under the approved establishment, we intended to have 419 Professors, but we currently have only 75. We planned for 473 Associate Professors, but currently have only 144. This clearly demonstrates that we still have considerable room for growth in strengthening our academic staff profile,” the VC said.
The VC appreciated researchers and research centres, that continue to attract substantial research funding. He highlighted the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) and the Makerere University Walter Reed Project which attracted approximately US$70 million in international research funding into Uganda.
“When you combine the grants won by all our researchers through competitive international funding, the total exceeds US$200 million,” he said.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of the University Council, Dr. Lorna Magara, described the Strategic Plan as more than an institutional roadmap, calling it “a public covenant with the people of Uganda.”
She noted that the Plan marks “the launch of Makerere University’s next chapter,” adding that decisions taken over the next five years will shape not only the future of the institution, but also Uganda’s development trajectory through graduates, research, innovations, and leadership.
Dr. Magara emphasized Makerere’s unique national role as Uganda’s premier public university, entrusted with public resources and public confidence.
“Every investment made in Makerere must produce measurable value for the people of Uganda,” she said, underscoring the need for accountability, integrity, and impact.
Ambitious Targets for Transformation
The Council Chairperson and the Vice chancellor outlined bold performance targets under the Strategic Plan, including doubling postgraduate enrolment, increasing STEM enrolment from 30% to 55%, improving PhD completion rates from 10% to 35%, and more than doubling peer-reviewed research output, alongside a significant rise in patents and innovations.
Dr. Magara stressed that these targets are not aspirations alone but binding commitments against which institutional performance will be measured.
“Ambition is precisely what this moment demands. A strategic plan is not measured by the elegance of its language, but by the lives it transforms,” she said.
Call for Stronger Governance and Legal Reform
Dr. Magara also highlighted the need for reform of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, Cap. 262, noting that the current legal framework has not kept pace with the evolving realities of university governance and innovation.
She called on Government and Parliament to support a timely review of the Act to enable universities to better optimise knowledge systems, productive assets, and innovation capacity in support of national development.
Government Endorsement and Strategic Alignment
Hon. Henry Musasizi commended the University for developing a forward-looking Strategic Plan aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040 and the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV), which serves as the foundation for the country’s Tenfold Growth Strategy.
He explained that Uganda’s ambition to grow its economy from about USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion requires accelerated growth driven by productivity gains, innovation, and strong human capital development.
“Universities are central actors in national transformation. They are engines of knowledge creation, innovation, and human capital development,” he said.
The Minister stressed that government priorities include strengthening research, promoting industrialization, and ensuring that knowledge generated in universities is translated into practical solutions that support economic growth. He further highlighted the importance of accountability, efficiency, and value for money in public investments in higher education.
Universities as Drivers of the Tenfold Growth Strategy
In his presentation, the Senior Planner at the National Planning Authority, Samuel Kasule, emphasized that the Strategic Plan is firmly anchored in Uganda’s comprehensive development framework under Vision 2040 and NDP IV.
He noted that the Tenfold Growth Strategy seeks to accelerate Uganda’s economic growth into double-digit territory, enabling the country to achieve structural transformation and reach upper middle-income status.
Kasule underscored that universities play a critical role in this transformation through labour productivity, research, and innovation. He pointed out that priority sectors such as agriculture, tourism, minerals, oil and gas, and ICT depend heavily on skilled graduates and strong research ecosystems.
He also highlighted the importance of competency-based education, alignment of academic programmes with national human resource needs, and strengthening postgraduate training and research outputs.
A Shared Commitment to Transformation
Across all speeches, a strong message emerged: universities are central to Uganda’s development agenda and must evolve into research-intensive institutions that directly contribute to economic transformation.
The Strategic Plan 2025-2030 was widely commended for its focus on innovation, industry collaboration, digital transformation, and the commercialization of research outputs.
Government leaders reaffirmed continued support for higher education institutions through research funding, innovation ecosystems, and strengthened university–industry partnerships.
Conclusion
The launch of the Strategic Plan 2030 signals a renewed commitment to positioning the University as a key partner in Uganda’s development journey. With strong alignment to national priorities, the Plan is expected to accelerate research, innovation, and skills development necessary for achieving Uganda’s long-term economic ambitions. The Strategic Plan may be accessed at: https://mak.ac.ug/about/strategic-plan
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