On Friday 17th November, 2017, a delegation from China led by Professor Li Ming – Director, International Centre for Higher Education, Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Makerere University and UNESCO-ICHEI. In the presence of several members of Makerere University Management, the Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe signed on behalf of Makerere University. The MoU signing ceremony took place in the Council Room.
Professor Ming gave a brief background of UNESCO-ICHEI and informed the members of management present that early 2017, UNESCO-ICHEI held the “Africa Higher Education Innovation Development and Project Cooperation Seminar” at the Southern University of Science and Technology, located in Shenzhen, China. The seminar was attended by several top-level experts, including Mr. DU Yue, Secretary-General of the National Commission for UNESCO, Professor WANG Libing, Director of the Department of Education Innovation and Skills Development at the UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, and other experts from the University of Hong Kong, Zhejiang University, China Development Institute, and Shenzhen Metro Group.
Participants at the seminar had come together to discuss their practices and experiences with innovation and development in higher education and Africa. The Secretary-General DU Yue was optimistic that the Centre would continue to improve the capacity of information generation and also fulfill the role among UNESCO Category II Centres of “becoming a laboratory of ideas, leading the international agenda, promoting international cooperation, and influencing national policies.” ICHEI will continue to raise the bar for information management, communication, and leadership capacity, all of which play an important role in global education governance.
Two short presentations were made for UNESCO-INCHEI and Southern University of Science and Technology respectively. UNESCO and SUSTech had travelled extensively in Africa with the aim of developing and implementing information technologies for higher educational institutions. UNESCO-ICHEI had visited Makerere University with the goal of establishing a cooperation between the three entities. Identified areas of cooperation were; joint research programme(s) on higher education and ICT; information sharing and mutual support on international conferences and academic fora; exchange of international students; exchange of academic staff between SUSTech and Makerere University; exploration of university-enterprise cooperation (potential cooperation between UNESCO-ICHEI, Makerere University and industries, including but not limited to Huawei, Weidong Cloud Education and on-line education, etc). Professors will be invited from Makerere University to attend seminars at UNESCO-ICHEI and vice versa.
Professor Li Ming was accompanied by Professor Andrew Zhao, Deputy Director, Higher Education Research Centre at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), who is also a Senior Expert at UNESCO-ICHEI. Other delegates were Mr Wang Min, a Senior Consultant of Industry-University Cooperation at UNESCO-ICHEI, Ms BI Xiaohan, Programme Officer and Ms LI Xue a Programme Officer. Others hailed from Technology Companies in China.
The Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe welcomed the visitors and informed them that Makerere University will be celebrating 100 years in the next five years. As a leading research university on the continent, Makerere welcomes researchers from China and will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with China University of Petroleum (CUP) to tap in training of experts in the lucrative oil industry.
We are eagerly looking forward to working with UNESCO-ICHEI and having a strong collaboration in the field of ICT and innovation in education.
72 undergraduate students of Makerere University have successfully been admitted to the Millennium Fellowship Class of 2026, an initiative of the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and United Nations Academic Impact. Makerere’s Fellows were selected from a record-breaking 76,000 applicants from over 6,000 campuses across 174 countries to participate in the ambitious programme.
According to the Fellowship website, the programme aims to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UN Academic Impact Principles a reality on campuses, in classrooms and throughout communities. Millennium Fellows are university undergraduates selected for their leadership on sustainable development projects in their communities. As Fellows, they complete a semester-long leadership development programme that strengthens their student organizing, partnership-building and community-impact skills.
In his congratulatory message to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, Sam Vaghar the Executive Director, MCN shared that Over 330 campuses across 60 nations have been selected to host 2026 Millenium Fellows. “Congratulations to you and Makerere University for having a cohort of Millennium Fellows from your student body again this year!”
Below is a sample of the work of the Class of 2026.
At Harvard University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in the United States of America, Millennium Fellows are expanding OpenDoor, an AI-powered platform that helps people navigate retraining, job opportunities and pathways into high-demand careers. The project grew from their work with people experiencing homelessness and from seeing how difficult workforce programmes can be to navigate even when support exists. Advancing SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, it expects to reach about 7,500 people during the Fellowship.
At the University of Ilorin, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Nigeria, Millennium Fellows are building what they describe as Africa’s first green AI policy framework, helping policymakers and developers understand how artificial intelligence can advance while reducing energy use, pollution and material waste. Aligned with SDG 13: Climate Action, it expects to reach about 75 people during the Fellowship.
At BRAC University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Bangladesh, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production through a start-up replacing single-use products with environmentally friendly alternatives. Its current focus is a paper pen that uses roughly 90 per cent less plastic than a conventional pen, with a seed built in so it can grow into a plant when properly disposed of. The project expects to reach about 450 people.
At Nicolae Testemițanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Moldova, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being by studying how environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity may affect recovery after brain surgery. By bringing simple digital monitoring tools into postoperative care, the project aims to help doctors make timelier decisions.
We wish our Millennium Fellows an impactful fellowship.
The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released admission lists of candidates admitted under the Talented Sports Men & Women, Disability and District Quota Schemes with Government sponsorship 2026/27 Academic Year including appeals and remarked cases.
Other admission lists released include A-Level Applicants with Ugandan and those with Foreign Qualifications, Diploma in Performing Arts, Mature-Age Entry and Bachelor of Education (EXTERNAL Batch 2) for the Academic Year 2026/2027 under self sponsorship.
Makerere University‘s position in the July 2026 edition of the Webometrics Rankings has improved from 925th to 776th globally and from 13th to 11th on the Continent, compared to the January 2026 edition. Makerere remains the top-ranked University in Uganda and East Africa.
The new rankings are as a result of improved performance in the Impact Rank, which measures the number of external domains referring/linking to Makerere (from 1,593 to 1,185) and the Excellence Rank, which measures Research papers in the top 10% most cited between 2019 and 2023 (from 1,095 to 715).
Please see the attached screenshots for details or view Makerere‘s rankings online using the link below:
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities aims to recognize and promote the digital transformation of higher education institutions by evaluating how effectively they reflect their academic, research, and societal contributions online.
We remain committed to ensuring that all our good work in teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, and partnerships continues to be reflected online through various journals and other platforms.