In an era defined by rapid technological disruption and a deepening knowledge economy, Africa stands at crossroads. The continent’s quest for transformation hinges not merely on resources or infrastructure, but on the strategic cultivation of its greatest asset, human capital. Universities, long recognised as the engines of progress, through their traditional primary roles of teaching, research and community engagement must now evolve to meet the demands of a digital and data-driven world. It is within this context that the fifth African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Biennial International Conference, convened at Makerere University under the theme “Research, Innovation, and Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Transformation,” assumes scholarly significance. Bringing together hundreds of scholars, policymakers, and thought leaders from across the continent and beyond, the conference underscores a collective urgency to harness the power of artificial intelligence not as a distant frontier, but as a practical tool for addressing Africa’s most pressing developmental challenges, from food security and health to employment, conflict, and migration. As Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University aptly observed in his opening remarks that the responsibility before Africa’s universities is not only to generate knowledge, but to translate it into transformative action through research and community engagement.

Across the African continent, universities are grappling with meeting the heightened demand for higher education. In the decades post-independence, enrolment in higher education has expanded more than tenfold, reflecting both the aspirations of a young and dynamic population and the continent’s growing recognition of knowledge as a catalyst for development through expansion of access to tertiary education. Yet, this expansion has not been matched by a proportional growth in academic human resources, particularly at the doctoral and professorial levels. A significant proportion of Africa’s senior academics, many trained in the 1970s and early 1980s, are now approaching or have reached retirement, leaving institutions operating at roughly 60% of their optimal staffing capacity. This demographic shift poses a critical challenge to the sustainability and quality of higher education and research. Also, often-overlooked, is the shortage of skilled technicians, whose expertise is essential to sustaining effective teaching, research, and innovation. As Africa strives to assert its place in the global knowledge economy, strengthening the pipeline of qualified academics and technical professionals emerges not just as a priority but as an imperative for the continent’s intellectual and developmental future.

The future of work is already being rewritten, according to the World Economic Forum, an astounding 65% of children currently in primary school will work in jobs that do not even exist yet, a startling statistic that underscores the magnitude of transformation ahead. This projection challenges traditional education systems to evolve towards prioritizing skills, critical thinking, adaptability and creativity. This paradigm shift presents both an urgency and opportunity for Africa to leverage on the power of technology and collaboration. The coming decades will witness a profound shift in labour markets, as demand transitions from conventional white-collar roles to emerging fields in computing, scientific research, healthcare, and engineering. Therefore harnessing the continent’s youthful technological potential and vigor will be essential in shaping a distinctly African model of innovation-driven development.

The African Union’s ambitious goal of training 100,000 PhDs by 2035 reflects a recognition that sustainable development depends on the continent’s capacity to generate and apply knowledge for its own advancement. Yet, the current landscape reveals stark disparities: while Africa is home to nearly 19% of the world’s population, it contributes less than 3% to global GDP share, shoulders 25% of the global disease burden, and produces a mere 2% of the world’s research output, 1.3% of world research spending and holds less than 1% of patent application worldwide. These figures expose the continent’s underrepresentation in the global knowledge economy. The good news is that Africa has a robust entrepreneurial class thriving everywhere from technological hubs to telecentres and incubators creatively adapting solutions to uniquely African challenges. This momentum is a critical driver of the economy, both because it facilitates access to basic needs such as education, financial services and healthcare, but also represents a shift to the knowledge-based economy that will carry Africa into a prosperous future.

Those who innovate will achieve Africa’s transformation story and the universities stand at the centre of this transformation. They must continue to nurture new generations of researchers, thinkers, and innovators capable of confronting Africa’s complex challenges with creativity and purpose. The rise of artificial intelligence offers unprecedented opportunities to leapfrog effects of colonialism and historical barriers, provided education systems adapt to prioritise critical thinking, and innovation.

_{By Caroline Kainomugisha}

This morning, the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Prof. Sarah Ssali, hosted a delegation from the University of Malmö, Sweden, marking another milestone in the growing collaboration between the two institutions.

The delegation comprised Catrin Stensson, University Lecturer; Dr. Dorota Lembrér, Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Mathematics Education; Magdalena Sjoestrand Oehrfelt, Senior Lecturer; and Therese Lindgren, Senior Lecturer.

During the meeting, Prof. Mugaga Muwanga traced the genesis of the partnership, noting that it began when Mr. Peter Ssenkusu, a lecturer at Makerere University, participated in a mobility programme at Malmö University focused on competence-based learning. That initial engagement has since blossomed into a strong and fruitful collaboration, illustrating how individual academic initiatives can grow into institution-wide partnerships that drive innovation in higher education.

With over 60 years of experience as a leading teachers’ college in Sweden before attaining university status five years ago, the University of Malmö brings a wealth of expertise in teacher training and pedagogy. This positions it as a strategic partner for Makerere University’s College of Education and External Studies (CEES) in its mission to enhance the training of educators and strengthen Early Childhood Education in Uganda.

Through this partnership, Makerere University has launched two landmark programmes: the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and the Master of Early Childhood Development. The response to these programmes has been overwhelming, with over 500 and 1,000 applications received respectively. Due to resource constraints, 200 undergraduate and 10 postgraduate students were admitted in the inaugural intake.

Beyond these academic programmes, the partnership continues to create broader institutional benefits. CEES currently hosts 11 PhD candidates whose research focuses on Early Childhood Education a direct outcome of strengthened academic collaboration and knowledge exchange between Makerere and Malmö.

With the launch of these two programs, Makerere University reaffirms its position as Uganda’s and the region’s premier institution for shaping the future of Early Childhood Education. The partnership has not only fostered academic exchange and faculty mobility but has also contributed to shaping national policy in Early Childhood Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports and looking to the future, other institutions of higher learning.

Prof. Mugaga Muwanga, together with Mr. Peter Ssenkusu and Mr. David Kabugo, have been instrumental in steering this collaboration to success. Their leadership underscores the power of faculty-led partnerships in translating Memoranda of Understanding into tangible outcomes that transform teaching, learning, and research.

Speaking at the meeting, Prof. Sarah Ssali reaffirmed Makerere University’s commitment to expanding strategic partnerships that advance the University’s academic mission and global reach. “Partnerships such as this not only strengthen our teaching and research capacity but also inspire shared innovation and learning that shapes the education systems of the future for all involved,” she said.

Looking ahead, the partnership will strategically focus on expanding student and faculty mobility, fostering joint research and publications, and introducing taught PhD programmes in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), complementing existing research-based options. Plans are also underway to establish an ECCE Resource Room and a fully-fledged Department of Early Childhood Care and Education at Makerere University, further strengthening the University’s capacity to lead in this critical field.

As Makerere University continues to position itself as a regional benchmark for Early Childhood Education, its partnership with the University of Malmö demonstrates the transformative potential of collaboration, bridging institutions, nations, and disciplines to nurture educators who will shape generations to come.

Caroline Kainomugisha is Communications Officer, Advancement Office, Makerere University.

Malvin Akwara obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education, specialising in English Language and Literature, from Makerere University in 2023, with support from the Mastercard Foundation. Since graduating, she has developed a passion for helping young people with disabilities access education at both secondary and university levels.

Who is Malvin Akwara

Malvin was born on 22^nd November 1998 in Tororo, Eastern Uganda, into a family of six children (three girls and three boys). Shortly afterwards, the family moved to Kampala, where her father worked as an accountant. In 2009, her father lost his job, marking the beginning of a difficult period for the entire family. When her father who was the only breadwinner lost his job, the family returned to Tororo because they could no longer afford the high cost of living in the city.

Early Education

At the age of three, Malvin began her early childhood education at Clever Junior School in Kitintale, a Kampala suburb, where she attended Nursery School through Primary Three. Here, life was quite good, and she enjoyed being dropped off and picked up by her father, as was typical of most Kampala middle-class families. Unfortunately, it was not long before life took a different twist when her father lost his job and the family moved back to Tororo. In Tororo, she joined Morukebu Primary School, where she sat for her Primary Seven Leaving Examinations. Unlike her experience of a reasonably good life at school in Kampala, she had to walk long distances to and from school (14 kilometres each way) with her siblings, because her father could no longer afford to take them. The family had taken to subsistence farming to earn a living. The family worked together on the farm to grow food for home consumption and to sell some to pay school fees.

Pursuing Secondary Education

With her hard-earned 15 points from the Primary Leaving Examinations, Malvin embarked on her journey towards secondary education. She attended St. John’s Wakitaka in Jinja for her O-level from 2013 to 2016. However, in 2015, just before sitting her Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, her father passed away due to peptic ulcers. His death devastated the already struggling family, and life became even harder. Left in the care of her single mother, with no steady source of income, Malvin and her siblings’ prospects looked bleak. Her father’s passing significantly affected her final results; she scored 39 points, which was poor compared to her earlier performance. With support from her paternal uncle, she later joined Budini Boarding Secondary School in Kaliro district, where she scored 14 points in History, Economics, Literature, and Divinity in 2018. By then, her other siblings had dropped out of school due to lack of fees, as their mother could not afford to keep them in school. To make matters worse, family disputes arose when her father’s relatives evicted her mother from the family land, leaving them homeless and with only enough land to grow food for their own consumption.

Pursuing University Education

With 14 points in her 2018 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations, Malvin was hopeful about pursuing her university education with the support of her paternal uncle, who had helped her through A-level. Unfortunately, that hope was short-lived when her uncle shared the difficult news that he could not afford to send her to university because he needed to support his own children financially. The news was a significant setback to her dreams of being the first girl in her family to attend university. Unable to join a university at that time, Malvin embarked on a journey to find small jobs to support her mother and help the family.

It was during her job search that she came to Kampala to work for a family as a house help, mainly caring for her boss’ mother, who was in her sickbed at Kiruddu Hospital. During the three months she spent in the hospital as a caretaker, she learnt about the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University through one of the family’s children, who was studying there.

Joining the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University

Armed with the necessary information about the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University, Malvin applied in 2019 and was delighted to be selected. Soon after, she was given the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Education, specialising in English Language and Literature. While at university, Malvin did not forget her family back home in Tororo. She allocated part of her stipend to support her mother and to ensure her siblings returned to school. During her second year at university in 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, bringing everything to a halt, including education at the university.

When Malvin was grounded at home, just as all her colleagues were, she didn’t let the misery that came with COVID-19 break her down; instead, she used it as an opportunity to support people in her community who were facing social and economic barriers to opportunities. Using her little savings, she started a piggery project to help single mothers in her community by giving them piglets to rear, multiply, and distribute to others experiencing similar challenges.

The piggery project helped several single mothers send their children to school. It is through this piggery project that Malvin came across Omukaga Samuel, a young person living with a disability who had been out of school because his parents could not afford to pay his school fees. With support from the piggery project, Malvin worked together with Samuel’s parents to help their son return to school. This experience with Omukaga Samuel ignited Malvin’s passion for supporting learners living with disabilities to access education.

Life After Makerere University

Upon graduating in 2023, Malvin immediately found a position teaching English Language and Literature at Elite High School, one of Kampala’s top secondary schools.  At this school, Malvin has grown into a professional teacher, career advisor, and mentor to many young people both within and outside the school.

Through mentorship, she has focused on supporting young people living with disabilities to return to school by helping them secure bursaries for secondary education and apply for scholarships to access university. For example, she assisted Omukaga Samuel in applying for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University, where he is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Adult and Community Education, as well as Patricia Namiwanda, who is presently studying for a Master’s degree in Human Rights at Makerere University, all thanks to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.

Malvin has also used her resources to build a decent house for her mother, where she now lives with her siblings in Manafwa District, Eastern Uganda, restoring hope after the family lost their home due to land disputes.

Impact on the Community

As the first-generation girl to achieve a university education, Malvin has inspired many young girls in her home district of Tororo to pursue further studies and has continued to support them through peer mentorship. Although she works and resides in Kampala, she travels home every Friday to meet and mentor young girls in secondary schools, encouraging them to stay in school and avoid early marriage, which remains a significant challenge for many young girls in Tororo and across Eastern Uganda.

In addition, her piggery project has expanded across the entire district, improving the economic well-being of many participants in her community.

Looking into the Future

Malvin is optimistic about a bright future ahead, judging by the progress she has made in her life. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Languages at Makerere University. She aspires to specialise in curriculum development and work with the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) to design an inclusive curriculum that will help young people living with disabilities access meaningful education in Uganda. She also envisions building a school in her community that will specifically support young people living with disabilities to attain inclusive, quality education.

Message to Fellow Young Women

Malvin urges young women not to despair or give up in the face of difficult situations.

“I urge my fellow young women not to give up or despair when faced with difficult situations. They should always challenge themselves to emerge stronger from such circumstances.” Malvin shares.

Words of Gratitude 

Malvin expressed gratitude to the Mastercard Foundation for the support that enabled her to attain a quality university education at Makerere University.

“If it were not for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, I wouldn’t have attained a university education. I am therefore grateful and humbled for the opportunity extended to me and other Mastercard Foundation Scholars through this life-changing program.” Malvin remarked.

Malvin further urged the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program team at Makerere University and other Mastercard Foundation partners to reach out to distant areas so that more young people facing social and economic barriers can also access university education.

Bernard Buteera is the Principal Communications Officer for Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University.

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