General
Director Beate Schindler-Kovats Affirms DAAD’s Continued Support to Mak
The Director of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Regional Office for Africa, Ms. Beate Schindler-Kovats on Thursday 28th November, 2019 paid a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe and urged Makerere University to intensify her networks with regional universities so as to form a block. This, she added, would enable Makerere University to tap into additional opportunities by DAAD and the European Union (EU) that seek to support institutions with regional impact.
“DAAD always has new programmes and opportunities for scholars tenable in Germany and in-Country but we also have a lot of opportunities for universities to cooperate at institutional level and we would be happy if Makerere University participated in these programmes as well” explained Ms. Schindler-Kovats.
Earlier, Prof. Nawangwe had welcomed the Regional Director and thanked DAAD for the tremendous support extended to faculty training and diversification of academic programmes. He noted that German has been taught at Makerere since 1967 and thanked DAAD for the big role played in training Masters and PhDs after the turbulent political period.
“Many colleagues, some of whom now occupy leadership positions elsewhere studied in Germany. Prof. Manuel Muranga is one of the most prominent ones,” added the Vice Chancellor.
Prof. Nawangwe shared that Makerere is keen to strengthen her regional networks and has in the past acted as a hub for North Carolina State University’s East African Higher Education Summit. Participating Universities on the occasion included; Gulu University (Uganda), Mount Kenya University (Kenya) and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda).
“According to data from one of the top ranking agencies, Makerere University has collaborations with all major regional and international universities and this can be seen by the equally high number of co-authored publications in the rankings data” he added.
The Vice Chancellor also cited the upcoming Regional Meeting of the World Health Summit, due to be hosted by Makerere University and the Government of Uganda for the first time in Africa on 27th and 28th April 2020, as the result of collaborative efforts. “Makerere is the only African University that is a member of the M8 Alliance and we look forward to hosting our patrons; German Chancellor-Angela Merkel, French President-H.E. Emmanuel Macron, and EU Commission President-H.E. Jean-Claude Juncker at the World Health Summit 2020.”
The DAAD Regional Director noted that whereas German Universities have got Internationalization as a top priority, collaborating with Makerere University would accord them access to an even a wider network of North-South and South-South collaborations. She concurred that collaborations at this new level of worth exploring.
Mr. Steven Heimlich, the in-Country DAAD Office Representative shared that there are currently 60 students studying German as a subject at undergraduate level. He nevertheless noted the need to offer more flexible subject combinations so as to enable even more students study German as a language.
The Vice Chancellor concurred with the need to offer a diversity of options especially in languages to undergraduate students and promised to look into the matter. He also touched on the upcoming Public Lecture on the Brexit and Regional Collaboration by the German Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Dr. Albrecht Conze, noting that this would an interesting topic for debate. The lecture is due to be hosted by Makerere University on 10th December 2019 in the Central Teaching Facility 2 (CTF 2) Auditorium.
Article by Public Relations Office
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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.
“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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