General
H.E Hatem İdris, Saudi Ministry of Education Delegation Visits Mak
On Tuesday 26th November 2019, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe together with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Dr. Umar Kakumba received a high level delegation from the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education led by Minister Plenipotentiary H.E Hatem İdris. The delegation was accompanied by H.E Mr. Bandar Al Faifi, The Chargé d'Affaires of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Uganda.
Prof. Nawangwe welcomed H.E Hatem İdris and his delegation to Makerere and thanked him for including the University on his Ugandan itinerary. He noted that the Uganda has had a long and fruitful relationship with Saudi Arabia dating back to precolonial times and thanked the Minister for support extended to Makerere University staff that pursue their graduate studies in the Royal Kingdom.
“Makerere as a premier University in Africa tries to develop strong links with as many cultures in the world as possible. We have got the Korea Corner and French Corner in the Main Library as well as the Campus France Antenna. We are also home to the Confucius Institute which promotes both Chinese language and culture” he added.
The Vice Chancellor therefore appealed to H.E. Hatem Idris to champion the establishment of a Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at Makerere University. The Centre, he noted would promote not only the teaching of Arabic but also other aspects of cultural significance such as architecture, music and art.
In his remarks, Dr. Umar Kakumba reiterated the need to establish a Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at Makerere University, noting that the former Ambassador H.E Dr. Jamal Rafah had also recognized the proposed centre as an avenue to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Makerere University beyond support to Arabic language studies. He wished the delegation fruitful discussions with the Ministry of Education and Sports, noting that deliberations between the Governments of Uganda and Saudi Arabia would set the pace for collaborations with Makerere University.
The Coordinator of Arabic Language at Makerere University, Dr. Ssali Ebraheem thanked H.E. Hatem Idris and the Saudi Arabian Government for the support extended to teaching the language since the collaboration officially started in 2002.
“In particular, I would like to thank His Excellency for the USD 90,000 grant from King Abdalla Bin Abdul Aziiz International Centre for Arabic Language to enable students to study Arabic language for a period of three years. This has boosted teaching of the subject in the Department of European and Oriental Language and we have close to 70 students where we previously had only 20 to 25” added Dr. Ssali.
In his remarks H.E Mr. Bandar Al Faifi thanked H.E. Hatem Idris for including Makerere University on his itinerary, adding that the visit would put face to the long collaboration in scholarship between Saudi Arabia and Uganda. He added that Makerere is the most famous University in Africa and therefore gladly announced the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s renewal of the three year grant to enable students in the Department of European and Oriental to study the Arabic language.
The representative of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia in his remarks thanked the Vice Chancellor and Members of Management for sparing time to meet the delegation. He added that the visit would strengthen discussions on the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies’s proposed establishment at Makerere University. The representative added that the delegation would use the same visit to discuss with the Ministry of Education and Sports the establishment of an independent National Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Present at the discussions were the University Librarian-Dr. Helen Byamugisha, Dean of Students-Mr. Cyriaco Kabagambe, Director Research and Graduate Training-Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, Director Internal Audit-Mr. Walter Yorac Nono and staff from the Department of European and Oriental Languages. The discussions were moderated Acting Manager, Communication and International Relations-Dr. Muhammad Kiggundu Musoke who also doubled as translator from Arabic to English and vice versa.
Article by Public Relations Office
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Mak Students Receive USD 90,000 from Saudi Arabia
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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