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Mak-MKU Expand Joint Collaboration to Institutional Level

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Makerere University and Mount Kenya University (MKU) on Monday, 14th January 2019 officially expanded their collaboration to institutional level following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Signed on behalf of Mak by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe and on behalf of MKU by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stanley Waudo, the MoU is a follow-up of an earlier one signed on 19th September 2017 between the two institutions’ Colleges of Health Sciences. Mak’s College of Education and External Studies (CEES) has also been collaborating with MKU’s School of Education since 2017.

 

Welcoming the delegation to Makerere University, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe commended MKU and colleagues in Makerere for all the progress made since the initial agreement was signed at college level.

“Collaboration is the way to go. We should emulate Universities in the US and Europe which are reaping a lot from grants through joint applications. I therefore encourage all colleagues engaged in partnerships with Mount Kenya University to jointly apply for grants. This way, we shall be able to attract bigger funding for our research activities” remarked Prof. Nawangwe.

Accompanied by his Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research Affairs, Dr. Bibianne Waiganjo and Director of Quality Assurance, Linkages and Partnerships, Prof. Mwangi Peter Wanderi, Prof. Waudo further emphasised the need for both institutions to focus on graduate students if they are to improve their research output.

“As Professors, we are training these students to take over from us. We should teach them how to write research grants” said Prof. Waudo in reference to his own training at Iowa State University where he earned his Masters and PhD in plant pathology. “At Masters level, first year students are paired with colleagues in second year for mentorship and review of theses so that professors receive a refined document. The is the same case at PhD level” he added.

The Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe (R) hands over a souvenir Mak Mug to MKU's Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research Affairs, Dr. Bibianne Waiganjo (L) during the MoU signing

Contributing to the day’s discussion, the Acting Director, Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD), Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine reiterated Makerere’s regional leadership in institutionalising gender in University functions. In 2001, the Gender Mainstreaming Programme was initiated under the Department of the Academic Registrar and has in the last ten years transitioned from the Gender Mainstreaming Division to the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate.

“It is good to learn that Mount Kenya University has adopted a Gender policy. However, from our experience, you need to develop and implementation framework in order to effectively implement the policy” advised Dr. Mugisha.
 
In his remarks, the Director, Directorate Research and Graduate Training (DRGT), Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi shared with the visiting delegation Makerere’s current drive to be a research-intensive university.

“The Directorate of Research and Graduate Training coordinates the institution research efforts at college and project levels. We are reaping big from international collaborations with each of the ten colleges and Principal Investigators (PIs) attracting research grants for the various projects” remarked Prof. Buyinza.

He further shared the University’s drive to improve graduate training as a way of boosting research output. “Our biggest pillar in research is graduate students. We are implementing the Doctoral Committee system to improve our throughput and hold annual Doctoral Conventions for accountability and to share progress on various research findings.”

The Principal, College of Education and External Studies (CEES), Prof. Fred Masagazi Masaazi was all praises for the Mak-MKU collaboration which has played witness to joint supervision of education students on school practice by staff from both institutions.

The Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe (R) hands over a souvenir Mak Necktie to MKU's Director of Quality Assurance, Linkages and Partnerships, Prof. Mwangi Peter Wanderi (L) during the MoU signing

“At the end of the visits, we generate reports which have been very good in informing us on the way forward. We are now jointly developing multidisciplinary research projects” added the Principal.

The College of Health Sciences (CHS) has since signing the MoU in September 2017 made several strides in joint research projects. The Principal CHS, Prof. Charles Ibingira shared that the two institutions were utilising the US$100,000 joint research grant forge South-South research partnerships.

“We have a model where applicants from the two institutions must pair up in order to apply for grants and Prof. Harriet Mayanja-Kizza is in charge of this. So far, we have over five teams working together that have already embarked on research. We shall soon produce joint publications” remarked Prof. Ibingira.

“Collaboration is a great endeavour that all contemporary universities should look forward to” remarked the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Dr. Umar Kakumba as he gave the concluding remarks.

Makerere has invested heavily in staff development and I can assure you that collaboration with this University in terms of staff exchange cannot lack in any discipline. We have approximately 800 staff with PhDs in various disciplines” said Dr. Kakumba.

He however pointed out that whereas staff exchange was thriving, student exchange was still lacking and needed to be promoted. “Our proximity to each other will grant new learning experiences to our students and give them good exposure to our different learning environments” added the DVCAA.

Earlier, Prof. Mwangi had made a presentation on MKU during which he shared his institution’s intention to benchmark Mak’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security (CoVAB). He also highlighted cost-cutting measures undertaken by MKU and CEES that involved teams meeting at the border town of Busia for one week in order to undertake joint activities, instead of travelling all the way to either institution’s campuses.

The two parties thereafter signed the MoU and exchanged institutional souvenir items. The MKU will during their visit to Makerere University tour the Main Library, visit the CHS Campus in Mulago and attend the 69th Graduation Ceremony.

Article by Public Relations Office

 

Mark Wamai

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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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.

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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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 Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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