Mr. Benson Barigye (C) symbolically hands over files to the substantive Director, Internal Audit-Mr. Walter Yorac Nono (2nd L) as L-R: Ms. Komugisha Consolate, Mr. Ssanyu Lawrence and Mr. Patrick Akonyet witness during the ceremony held in the Directorate Offices, Main Bulding, Makerere University.
On 12th February 2018, the outgoing Acting Director of Internal Audit Directorate-Mr. Benson Barigye handed over office to the newly appointed substantive Director Mr. Walter Yorac Nono. Presided over by the Office of the University Secretary ably represented by Ms. Komugisha Consolate, the handover ceremony took place in the Directorate of Internal Audit and was witnessed by Mr. Ssanyu Lawrence, representing the Acting Director of Human Resource and Mr. Patrick Okonyet, Manager, Internal Audit.
Mr. Barigye thanked the University for granting him the opportunity to lead the Directorate and also thanked the staff for the cooperation and teamwork accorded to him during his tenure. Mr. Barigye was appointed Acting Director Internal Audit on 6th March 2017 when the then Acting Director Mr. Patrick Akonyet was granted sick leave. During his tenure, Mr. Barigye has successfully pushed for an increment of the Directorate’s budget for the financial year 2017/2018.
“The Internal Audit budget had stagnated at UGX75 million for the last 3 financial years. However, after presenting our request for additional funding to the Finance, Planning, Administration and Investment Committee of Council (FPAIC), the Chairperson sanctioned the increase of our funding in the financial year 2017/2018. We thank Management for allocating Internal Audit an extra UGX74million,” Mr. Barigye said.
He has also managed to organise a successful capacity building workshop for annual work plans and a stakeholders’ workshop on pre- audit phase out. He thanked his fellow staff members for the selfless devotion to serve the Directorate and University community.
Mr. Barigye congratulated Mr. Walter Yorac Nono upon his new role and pledged to work harmoniously with him to ensure that the objectives and goals of the Directorate are accomplished. He urged the incoming Director to follow up and ensure that the Directorate is well equipped with qualified staff and modern ICT equipment.
On behalf of the Management and the entire university community, Ms. Komugisha Consolate commended Mr. Barigye for his work in the Directorate of Internal Audit. According to Ms Komugisha, Mr. Barigye will always be remembered for his timely reports to FPAIC and his support to the Office of the Auditor General to ensure that the Annual report is produced on time.
“We have not received any complaints on the delay in reporting. We therefore hope to continue tapping into your expertise and experience to support Mr. Yorac Nono. Since he is new to Makerere, he might need help to understand the technicalities of the University system,” said Ms. Komugisha, as she welcomed the new Director and pledged the University Management’s support.
Mr. Walter Yorac Nono thanked Makerere University and the Directorate of Internal Audit for the warm welcome he received since his appointment on 2nd January 2018. His five year term runs until 1st January 2023.
In his remarks, Mr. Yorac Nono promised to build a value preposition for Internal Audit that will be based on assurance, insight and objectivity. He expressed readiness to work hand in hand with Management, staff of the Directorate and the University Community to provide insights and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and processes.
“With this team, we have capacity for value assurance. I am ready to build a team committed to integrity and accountability, a team ready to provide value to University Council, Management as well as an independent source of objective advice,” he said.
Mr. Walter Yorac Nono is a Professional Certified Public Accountant of Uganda (ICPAU) and a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA-UK). He is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA-Uganda/Global) and a member of the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU). He holds a Master of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from Makerere University and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He served as Head of Internal Audit at the National Council for Higher Education, a position he held from September 2011 to January 2018, prior to that he was the Chief Internal Auditor at Case Hospital, Audit Manager at Evlo & Company Certified Public Accountants and a supervisor at Team & Co. Certified Public Accountants.
He has also taught Accounting, taxation and Auditing at the National College of Business Studies (now Makerere University Business School), Uganda College of Commerce – Tororo and Bishop Barham University College in Kabale.
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.