African swine fever (ASF) is a highly infectious disease, endemic to Sub‐Saharan Africa. The ASF virus circulates in two cycles; a sylvatic cycle and a domestic cycle. The sylvatic cycle involves African wild pigs, such warthogs Phacochoerus africanus and bushpigs Potamochoerus larvatus, and endophilic Onrithodoros tampans. Wild pigs do not display clinical signs of the disease unlike domestic naive pigs, for which the ASF virus has a near 100% mortality rate. Ndumo Game Reserve (NGR) is located within the Swine Fever Control Area of South Africa, on the border with Mozambique in KwaZulu‐Natal Province. The aim of this study is to assess the potential risk of the presence and maintenance of ASF in Ndumo Game Reserve and the NGR wildlife‐livestock Interface.
Thee is a position for an MSc candidate to execute an exciting Research MSc degree to study the ecology of the potential sylvatic cycle of African swine fever in the NGR. The research is funded and suported by the University of Pretoria and Agricultural Research for Development CIRAD Research activities will consist on:
Census of wild pigs (warthogs and bushpigs) in the NGR
Collection of tampans in warthog burrows
Analysis of the presence of ASFV in tampans (optional) at ARC‐OVI
Implementation of questionnaires among small scale farmers at the interface of NGR
Conditions: A living stipend of 3000 ZAR/month will be provided during field activities Basic accommodation is available at the premises of KZN Wildlife in NGR Vehicle and fuel for field work will be provided by UP Basic training on line transects census, tampan collection and laboratory analysis of ticks for thepresence of ASFV will be provided to the student.
Requirements: A degree in veterinary science, biological science, ecology or natural science. Previous field work experience with wildlife will be an advantage. Basic knowledge in statistical analysis using R, STATA or another software package The candidate should be able to spend approximately 4 month/year in NGR. Applicants should provide their CV as well as a letter of interest to either Prof Ferguson or Dr Etter, below. Deadline: Friday October 31st 2014.
Prof. Willem Ferguson, CFES, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria. E‐mail: willemferguson@zoology.up.ac.za
Prof. Eric Etter, Epidemiology Unit, Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort. E‐mail: eric.etter@cirad.fr
The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.
The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.
The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.
The Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) has in collaboration with Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors.
Participants were academic staff from two colleges namely, College of Engineering, Art and Design (CEDAT) and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
The three-day training that took place at the Telepresence Centre, Senate Building ended on Friday 20thJune 2025.
In his closing remarks to the participants, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “This is the first cohort we are working together with the Center for Teaching and Learning to put together continuous professional development Program so that we are able to enforce the new teaching and learning policy.”
He said that before lecturers are allocated students for supervision, they must first go through this form of formal teaching and learning training to equip them thoroughly with certification required of supervision of graduate students.
“We are coming up with process to ensure that the certificates earned by participants allow you to supervise graduate students. This is the direction of the university and we must ensure that such trainings are concluded and completed successfully by all participants”, Prof. Kikooma.
Prof. Julius Kikooma – Director of Graduate Training
“We can only have you certified upon completing all the exercises in the training process. This is when you will be eligible to receive the work load for supervision”, He added.
“This training of Supervisors is going to be continuous so that all academic staff in colleges and schools are equipped. This first cohort is going to be our building block to the future trainings in the colleges.”
With such capacity building trainings, Prof. Kikooma said that the university is on the right path to achieving its targets in the new strategic plan of increasing the number of graduate students while progressively reducing the under graduate students.
He further hinted that, “We are in the process of writing a curriculum on this, which will be presented for approval before it is rolled out.”
He echoed all participants to share the knowledge they have acquired adding, “Share all you have learnt, do not keep it. Be open minded, have proper communication channels and the sky will be the limit for you.”
Dr. Robinah N. Kulabako, The Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CEDAT welcomed the training adding, “This training is very pertinent. I have had the opportunity to supervise Masters and PhD students for over 15 years and I must say that the need to be subjected to this training cannot be over emphasized because there is need to learn, unlearn and relearn many aspects involved in the supervision process.”
She added, “We are moving towards knowledge-based supervision rather than experience-based supervision. This means we must be informed and equipped to be able to advise, guide and mentor to be able to lead a successful supervision journey for both supervisor and supervisee.”
Dr. Andrew Gilbert Were – a lecturer at CEDAT and a participant said, “It is important that all supervisors of graduate students receive this certification from Makerere University through a systematic training process that enables them to attain diverse skills to facilitate learning of graduate students from diverse cultures and with unique set of circumstances.”
“This training is long overdue. In fact, it was an oversight that we could be allowed to supervise students without undergoing supervisors’ training.”
Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa, The Director Centre for Teaching and Learning support- CEES said, “The training this time round has had a mix of early career professionals including Lecturers, Supervisors and Professors share experiences. We have learnt a lot more from experienced supervisors who have shared practices on how they have done supervision over the years.”
“The knowledge and experience-based approaches have made this collaboration very active, interactive and learner centered which has resulted into a collaborative learning from the interdisciplinarity of staff from CEDAT and CAES. The issue now is to continue with professional development across all levels.” She added.
The Makerere University Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors. This activity was supported by the iCARTA – Institutionalization of Advanced Research Training in Africa, a NORHED II Project at Makerere University.