The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs)-DVCAA, Dr. Umar Kakumba on Tuesday 13^th April, 2021 received a donation of equipment to support e-Learning from the Executive Director (ED) National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U), Dr. Hatwib Mugasa and Huawei Technologies Uganda Managing Director, Mr. Gaofei Gavin. The equipment which included fifteen laptops and two Huawei IdeaHub S 65-inch Smart Boards worth UGX 300million will support operations of the Institute of Open, Distance and e-Learning (IODeL).

Delivering the opening remarks, the Director, Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS). Mr. Samuel Mugabi appreciated NITA-U for the timely donation, noting that as the University continues to implement Online, Distance and e-Learning, more support for technological innovation would be required.

“We are moving into the era of Education 4.0 where advanced technology and innovation are basic requirements and this donation will boost the efforts of our Institute of Open, Distance and e-Learning” remarked the Director DICTS.

He also prayed that this would be the beginning of further collaboration with NITA-U in areas such as lowering the cost of institutional bandwidth, cybersecurity among others.

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe reiterated that the Makerere University Strategic Plan (2020-2030) stipulates the need to transform into a 21st century University with four goals. “One of these goals outlines innovations in teaching and learning especially the move of University programmes to the ODeL platform. This is our thrust as Makerere.”

With the ‘new normal’ dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Nawangwe added that the donation was timely as it boosts the operationalisation of e-Learning at Makerere University. “COVID-19 has pushed us to move faster in the quest to translate our programmes into e-Learning modules and as a result, our Institute of Open, Distance and e-Learning has become a model for other institutions to benchmark.”

Prof. Nawangwe thanked ED NITA-U for the major boost to ODeL, noting that the equipment will enable the College of Education and External Studies (CEES) to advance e-learning, e-teaching, e-supervision, e-research, e-monitoring of teaching among other functionalities.

Handing over the high-tech equipment, Dr. Hatwib Mugasa said the donation was testimony to NITA-U’s readiness to support the University in the realization of its strategic vision of becoming a 21st century University. “Makerere is recognized as a Centre of Excellence the world over and when I was approached by our development partners with equipment for donation, the first place I thought of was this institution.”

He thanked the Makerere University under the guidance of the Vice Chancellor for leading the digitization of Uganda’s education sector and for the wealth of knowledge rendered to the NITA-U Board by two staff members thereon. “We are in the process of expanding our Directorate of Planning, Research and Development and will approach you soon for guidance on how we can move forward.”

Following the equipment handover and brief demonstration of the Smart Board features, the DVCAA, Dr. Umar Kakumba noted that the equipment was a great opportunity for Makerere to showcase her readiness to contribute to the National Development Agenda, by implementing innovative teaching and learning responsive to future technological and societal demands.

“The capabilities of this equipment are immense. The setup here at the Multimedia/e-Learning room when implemented across all our ten colleges will greatly enhance the speed at which we generate e-Learning content as well as disseminate it” added the DVCAA.

Representing the Director IODeL, Dr. Jessica Aguti, Dr. Godfrey Mayende expressed extreme gratitude on behalf of the Institute to NITA-U and Huawei for the equipment donation. He thanked the Vice Chancellor, DVCAA and University Management for the support accorded to IODeL that has enabled the Institute to implement its mandate.

“The demand for e-Learning material is still very high and ODeL is here to stay given the ‘new normal’ occasioned by COVID-19. I thank you all for coming to witness this handover ceremony and in particular DICTS for the technical support that has enabled us to conduct our operations smoothly” concluded Dr. Mayende.