We are extremely grateful and privileged to share our Annual Report for Academic Year 2019/20 with Makerere University community. The College is on track to be a thoughtful leader in shaping a strong, shared vision of academic success in ICT flagship research and education.

Although the first six months of academic year 2019/20 have been very exciting and full of significant accomplishments, the last six months have been quite challenging due to the unprecedented pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2), that causes Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). I anticipate that Science, our collective actions and any other adversity will yield positive outcomes, which will address current hardships that have significantly affected our livelihoods.

I take this opportunity to thank COCIS staff, faculty, and students for the resilience you have demonstrated and for all you have to do to keep our college moving forward to meet our strategic goals. Achieving academic success continues to remain an intentional outcome of our research and educational activities.

Let us continue to live healthier lives and practice good hygiene habits.

This academic year I would like to highlight excellent research and innovations that are being carried by our students and faculty. Why is our focus on Research and Innovations? At the heart of our distinctive model of ICT teaching and learning, we ensure the production of fine and high-quality human resource, while with research and innovations, we wish to increase the production of critical breakthroughs of ideas that advances scientific knowledge and innovations. This, we believe, will culminate into technological solutions. Currently, our college has a majority population of young faculty with incredible potential and a top 10% talented crop of students in the nation ready to exponentially push our research and innovations agenda forward. For example, our amazing faculty and students are building IoT sensor devices for smart homes, smoke detection, indoor and outdoor asthma monitoring and management, and robotics.

As College Principal, I appreciate the excellent progress we are making in conducting high-quality research. Our research capacity has significantly grown and it is very strong. We have a total number of 30 active grants secured either internally (22) or externally (10). Our graduate enrolment now stands at 9.6% up from 3% three years ago. We are on a steady march to meet our current target of 15%. This academic year we graduated six PhDs, 24 Masters, and over three faculty successfully completed their PhDs. Our College continues to offer impeccable educational and research opportunities for students and at-large community.

Thank you very much for reading our Annual Report and when you are in Makerere University stop by and visit this amazing college. We are committed as a college to be the leading regional hub for Data Science and AI research.

Professor Tonny J. Oyana
PRINCIPAL