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Gender Mainstreaming Directorate Tips Students on Personal Branding

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“Change your mindset and stop giving reasons, which reasons don’t put food on the table. This world has two types of people; the result people and the reason people. Which one are you?” Daniel Choudry asked his audience. “The reason people will give all excuses as to why they can’t do or achieve something and end up blaming everything around them including their parents, but can’t blame themselves. The result people are those who have an “I CAN” internal dialogue and see the opportunities and possibilities in everything,” he further explained.

On Thursday, 18th April 2019, 100 students gathered in the Senate Conference Room to participate in a workshop on how to get jobs and handle life after campus. The session was organized by Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD), Makerere University as part of their program of training the scholarship beneficiaries.

The Guest Speaker and Director of the Daniel Choudry Sales Institute Mr. Daniel Choudry advised the students to always have a unique identity that makes them stand out in the job market by building a personal brand.

Mr. Daniel Choudry walks through the audience during his presentation on Personal Branding and Career

Giving the opening remarks, the Director Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD), Dr. Euzobia Mugisha Baine thanked Daniel Choudry for accepting to pass on life changing tips and advised the students to take note of every single word. She called upon the students to adopt some life principles such as integrity, patience, trust and faithfulness which may not be taught in class but are essential for any employer before he/she entrusts anyone with his/her business. Dr. Euzobia also urged the students to develop an attitude of hard work if they are to become successful.

“I know that you all want to be successful people in this country but what are you doing to achieve this? Your performance decides which position you should be; schedule yourselves and know where you are to be at any given time. Take advantage of the free time you have by doing productive things that will result in good fruits,” said Dr. Euzobia

She called for teamwork among students while at their places of work and advised them to develop passion to learn what they don’t know as well as being flexible in all situations and jobs.

Some of the Staff and Students that attended the training engage in a practical exercise during the session

“Have one thing in you that will always make you stand out and that one thing will always qualify you for a job. The bosses in those companies are looking for one unique element in you that others may not have. Always strive to build a personal brand and that brand will take you where you want to reach; have a good identity and people will look for you,” advised Mr. Choudry as he started out.

He further encouraged the students to have personal ambitions, belief and trust in even before others see the potential in them.
 
“There is no such a thing as a man who was born great, instead, they were just once like you and with positive mindsets, aggressiveness, good attitude and belief and trust in themselves, they stretched to be productive and became what we see and admire in them now,” remarked Daniel, citing examples such as the President H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.

He advised them to make good use of all networking opportunities as it helps them generate new knowledge and ideas from people who have succeeded in life. Networking, he added, also helps to create new friends and pave way for job opportunities.

Female participants display passion for their personal brands

Mr. Choudry further called upon the students to be persistent. He shared an example of a scientist who made the bulb but failed 99 times and only succeeded on the 100th try. He continued and encouraged them to take all the little steps that come their way other than seating back waiting for the bigger opportunities.

“It’s always better to start with the small opportunities. Sometimes you have to first get some experience for before you actually get there. Pay the price and you will get where you want to be.  You can’t seat home and spend every single day watching television and doing nothing and then expect to compete for a job market with someone who has been gaining some experience elsewhere. Remember we are all competing for the same piece of cake,” he illustrated.

He condemned the act of pride, ego, attitude and foolishness exposed by the youth which characters don’t draw responsible people towards them but instead pushes them away, reminding them that only the humble succeed in life.

Mr. Choudry urged the female students to always be virtuous, dignified and avoid risky relationships

“Showing off prominent body features doesn’t portray sense in you, be a woman of virtue and dignity and avoid hopeless relationships. When you look smart, you attract people; being a slayer takes you nowhere but simply indicates the level of your unseriousness. To the men, it’s useless to look hot or handsome when your pocket is penniless. Don’t objectify women. If you don’t mean to be with her, don’t mess with her emotions; you need people to like you because if they don’t then they won’t give you opportunities,” Daniel advised.

He amused the audience when he stated that bosses in the job field don’t recruit based on impressive papers but rather based on the person’s ability. Here he clearly illustrated that first class degrees are not what employers are looking for as there are many people with good papers but can’t justify their performance by producing good results in their job placements.

Mr. Pade Brian from Daniel Choudry Sales Institute additionally advised students to develop hunger for jobs if they are to enter into the competitive job market. He also advised them not to undermine any job that comes their way as long as it’s a clean job.

Students listen attentively and take notes during Mr. Pade's presentation

He  echoed that a degree is just a stepping stone in one’s job and tipped the students on the A life principles namely: Accept who you are; Adopt what you are; Advance what you have achieved for a better level of life; and Attitude, passion and skill in combination.

Mr. Pade also advised them to avail themselves for volunteering opportunities that come their way and avoid priotizing money at the top of everything.

“Most of you mind about money, but money comes at a certain time. Sometimes you have to volunteer as it’s through those volunteering opportunities that you will be able to get job connections that will lead you to where the money is,” advised Pade.

Ms. Justine Nakanwagi a Mak alumni thanked the Directorate for organizing the life changing seminars as they impact a lot on students’ careers. She revealed that she was once a student sponsored by Mak Gender Mainstreaming Directorate and out of similar life changing seminars, she was able to get in touch with Daniel Choudry Sales Institute and was later employed as a Senior Sales Associate.

She advised her fellow youth to have the passion to doing things they have never done and to develop goals and work hard to see that they are all fulfilled.

Article by Rachael Kanyi, Volunteer, Mak 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.

Mak Editor

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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.

Mak Editor

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Directorate of Graduate Training Completes Training of First Cohort Training of Supervisors

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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.

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.

Mak Editor

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