General
Secretary General of ARUA meets Mak Top Management on the need to expand and enhance Africa’s research
On 15th May 2018, the Secretary General of African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Prof. Ernest Aryeetey visited Makerere University. During the historic visit, Prof. Aryeetey who also doubles as the Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana, met with Makerere University Top Management to discuss the various ways through which Makerere University can actively participate in the Alliance activities that are geared towards making African researchers and institutions globally competitive while contributing to the generation of knowledge for socio-economic transformation in Africa.
The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) is a network of universities from different countries and different historical backgrounds, but with a common vision of expanding and enhancing significantly the quality of research done in Africa.
Inaugurated in Dakar in March 2015, ARUA brings together sixteen (16) of the region’s leading universities with the aim of strengthening African research through effective capacity-building. Its intention reflects what Africa needs at the moment from its leading universities.
The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) is focusing on;
• Increasing significantly the amount of research that is being done in the 16 universities
• Expanding the graduate training activities in the 16 universities
• Research management on the African continent
• Africa’s Research advocacy
“We need to improve research in both natural and social sciences and the research areas we are keenly looking at include; Climate change, Food security, on-communicable diseases, Materials development, and nanotechnology, Energy, Mobility & migration, Poverty & inequality, Unemployment & skills development, Notions of identity, Good governance, Post-conflict societies and Water conservation,” he said.
According to Prof Ernest Aryeetey, over the years, African researchers have gained international recognition for their research that is majorly based on find solutions to societal problems. However, such tremendous research has been hindered by challenges such as financial constraints the sector is facing.
“One of the major challenges that African researchers are facing is finding money to finance research activities and this has greatly impacted the rate at which research is being carried out on the continent. One university in Africa is not strong enough to overcome these challenges and the best way is to collaborate and work together. We are pooling resources to relevant areas that we believe if handled very well can yield good results in communities,” he said.
Prof Ernest Aryeetey commended Makerere University for its vital research that has developed solutions to community problems. He urged collaborating Universities to look at the Alliance as a pan-African network that brings research and academic excellence to the fore front throughout the region by developing strong and viable research universities.
The Vice Chancellor of Makerere University Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, warmly welcomed Prof Ernest Aryeetey to Makerere University. He thanked the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) for recognising the tremendous contribution of Makerere University towards Africa’s research development.
“Makerere University has for long engaged in activities that are geared towards finding solutions to African problems. The institution is well known for developing human resource capacity that has strongly supported the economic and industrial sector of Uganda and Africa at large. We have engaged in research that provided solution to the ramming climate change, food insecurity and the rising epidemic diseases. I would like to mention that Makerere has the best tropical medicine school in the whole world with some of the best centres of excellence on the continent.” He vehemently said.
On behalf of Makerere University, the Vice Chancellor pledged to participate and support the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) to ensure that it meets its objectives.
Article by Proscovia Nabatte, Mak Public Relations Office.
By Moses Lutaaya
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.
“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.
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