General
Makerere University 87th Guild President, GRCs Sworn In
The newly elected Makerere University Guild President, Cabinet and Guild Representatives have been sworn in today, 26th November 2021 to effectively commence duties.
The swearing-in-ceremony took place at the CTF 2 Auditorium, presided over by the Dean of Students Mrs. Winifred Kabumbuli who represented the Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe.
On a brilliant event graced by many elders, both the outgoing and incoming students’ representatives, a number of guild representatives from Halls of Residence, Colleges, Schools, Persons with Disabilities, Dag Hammarskjold Hall, Kabanyolo hostels and Galloway Hall were sworn in. The Guild President Ms. Shamim Nambassa and her Guild Cabinet were also sworn in.
At the beginning of this month, Ms. ShamimNambassa won the Guild Presidential race after garnering 5,610 Valid Votes, representing 54.16% of the total ballot count. Ms. Nambassa replaced Ivan Ssempijja in the office.
After swearing in, H.E. Nambassa said she is excited to lead the student guild that will usher in Makerere’s 100 years of existence celebrations. “I assume office at a very critical time when Makerere University is about to celebrate 100 years. For the 87 years of the 100 the students’ guild has been around but I am only the 5th lady out of the 87,” Nambassa briefly stated.
Representing the Vice Chancellor, the Dean of Students Mrs. Winifred Kabumbuli applauded the outgoing Guild leadership for the good leadership they have exhibited during their term of service.
“I thank the outgoing guild leadership led by Ivan Ssempijja for the outstanding performance. I must admit that they contributed to quality enhancement of academic and social well being of students.”
Mrs. Kabumbuli also acknowledged the central role played by the guild electoral commission led by chairman William Kananga for organising a petition-less election. “The electoral commission, thank you very much, you are exceptional, excellent much less unsurpassed, indeed you were fit for the purpose, you deserve all the accolades,” she said.
In a speech read by the Dean of Students, the Vice Chancellor Professor Barnabas Nawangwe congratulated the newly elected leaders for the triumph. “I congratulate all those who stood for various posts and were successfully elected as well as those who have been appointed in various positions of the executive leadership of the guild, I warmly congratulate you. I also thank the voters who turned up to vote in big numbers”.
Professor Nawangwe also appealed to the newly sworn-in leaders to cooperate with University administration to ensure the wellbeing of students.
“To the new guild leadership, I appeal to you to begin your work with dedication and humility knowing very well that you have been called upon to serve your university beyond self. Please pay special attention to the University Council, the Senate, the College Boards and other statutory organs, the GRC as well as policies, procedures and regulations of the University. In particular, the guild leadership should join Management to encourage students to pay fees in the remaining time,” Prof Nawangwe added.
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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