General
Students Disciplinary Committee gets new Chairperson
Mr. Isaac Newton Kyagaba has been sworn-in as the new Chairperson of Makerere University Students Disciplinary Committee.
Accepting the appointment, Mr. Kyagaba thanked Members of Management and the Student Guild for sparing time out of their respective schedules to attend the ceremony. He expressed readiness to abide by the oath he had taken and maintain to confidentiality of all information that he will receive by virtue of his office.
“I personally believe in three guiding principles that I use in the different capacities or boards where I sit” shared Mr. Kyagaba “and these are communication, systems and transparency,” he added.
Mr. Kyagaba noted that in order for these three to be achieved, there must be discipline. “If you can effectively communicate, you can stop a war or dispute from actually happening.” He further explained that systems indicate a known manner in which things are done and procedures are followed. Observance of these by the committee on one hand and students on the other, he noted, would greatly reduce incidences that necessitate hearings.
The Commissioner of Oaths, Hajji Farouk Kamulegeya presided over the swearing-in-ceremony held on Friday 18th March 2022 in the Makerere University Council Room.
Section 5 (a) of the University Students Disciplinary Committee stipulates that the Committee shall be composed of members appointed by the University Council.
Following the swearing-in of the Chairperson, the Committee is now fully constituted. It consists of the following personalities:
Mr. Isaac Newton Kyagaba – Chairperson
Dr. Godfrey Akileng – Member
Dr. Sylvia A. Nannyonga-Tamusuza – Member
Rev. Onesimus Asiimwe – Member
Hon. Beatrice Kiraso – Member
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe congratulated Mr. Kyagaba on his appointment and thanked him for accepting to take on the responsibility of chairing the Committee and thanked Hajji Kamulegeya for administering the oath.
Prof. Nawangwe reiterated the importance of discipline and its correlation to development. “There is no way we can progress when there is indiscipline all around us. The countries that are advanced have had to instill discipline in different ways; the communists did it differently and the capitalists did it differently but they had to instill discipline in their societies.”
He therefore congratulated the members of the Committee upon their appointment and acceptance to serve Makerere University in this capacity and encouraged them to dispense justice without fear or favour.
“Makerere should become a university where people are thinking about how to move this country and this continent forward” concluded the Vice Chancellor.
The University Secretary, Mr. Yusuf Kiranda, who is also the Secretary to the University Council noted that the top governing body had executed its mandate by appointing the Committee as stipulated in Section 5 of the Makerere University Students Regulations.
“All societies that have been able to transform and develop are those where citizens have followed the rule of law. Rules apply everywhere, whether in how we interact with each other, how we conduct business, or how we manage public resources and facilities bestowed in our care. And when we break the rules without sanction, we create a perverse incentive which motivates other people to also act in their self-interest” remarked Mr. Kiranda.
He therefore hoped that with the Student Disciplinary Committee in place, meetings would be convened more for the purposes of counseling, guiding and advising the students than handling cases of indiscipline.
The Vice Guild President H.E. Nelson Ssewanyana and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Mr. Bbosa Henry Price represented the student’s leadership at the ceremony. The following University officials also witnessed the Swearing-in-Ceremony: Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration) Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, Dean of Students Mrs. Winifred Kabumbuli and Legal Officers namely Ms. Phiona Natukunda, Mr. Gonzaga Mbalangu and Ms. Naome Kiconco.
According to Section 5 (c), the terms of reference of the University Students Disciplinary Committee include:
- To handle disciplinary cases directly brought to it;
- To handle cases referred to it by Hall Disciplinary Committee;
- To handle appeals from parties dissatisfied with the ruling by the Hall Disciplinary Committee; and
- Any other functions assigned by Council.
Written by: Ritah Namisango, Mak Public Relations Office
The Senior Program Director, Higher Education and Research in Africa, International Program, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Prof. Omotade Akin Aina on 23rd May 2025 visited Makerere University during his short trip to Kampala. Prof. Aina was received on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe by Prof. Tony Oyana, Principal of the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
During his visit, Prof. Aina met with the Project Implementation Committee, representatives from the Consolidating Early Career Academics Programme (CECAP) phase I Fellowship Cohort, and current Fellows of phase II. The meeting discussed the progress of CECAP II, which focuses on fostering academic development and research among early-career academics.
CECAP II is being implemented by Makerere University in collaboration with four other Ugandan public universities, including; Busitema University, Gulu University, Kyambogo University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, the Project Principal Investigator was represented at the meeting by the Director of Graduate Training, Prof. Julius Kikooma.
By Moses Lutaaya
The Directorate of Graduate Training at Makerere University has equipped several Senior ranking lecturers with expert knowledge in a Training of Trainers’ workshop on “Philosophy of Methods”.
In his remarks at the opening of a 3-day training workshop at Level4 Conference Hall – Senate Building, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “The teaching of Philosophy of Methods gives all participants the fundamentals to extend knowledge to other learners, hence its importance in upholding the Makerere University values.”
Kikooma urged and challenged the participants to also attend and actively participate in the follow up of learners’ training of students, stating that the PhD students need support as the directorate continues to coordinate the curriculum of PhD by-research that was approved by the senate recently.
“To holistically implement the senate approved PhD curriculum, we are coordinating capacity building trainings of all stake holders in a structured approach with the different units of the University. Many more trainings including Training of Trainers in advanced research methods course are on the way.”
He further urged the participants to be intentional in their teaching profession and in whatever they were doing, adding “Apart from focusing on practices as teachers and researchers, we can engage in wider philosophical debates in our research areas so that we are relevant in the society and in the empowerment of PhD research students.”
The participants for the Philosophy of Methods training were from College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University Business School among others.
During the same training, Dr. Dickson Kanakulya stressed the need to train senior lecturers in the Philosophy of Methods, saying, “The biggest connection is that societal problems require concrete research to find solutions. Our challenge in Africa is that we employ a short barrow approach to find solutions to problems. This cannot work. We need consistent researchers to solve problems. Lasting solutions to societal issues can only be got through training such as Philosophy of Methods, where researchers come up with new models for societal solutions.”
Dr. Kanakulya said that Makerere University remains the biggest research University in Africa and philosophy of Methods helps to come up with good research tools that produce good research outputs. “Research has shown that the higher the number of PhD researchers in any given country, the higher the levels of development of that country e.g. the USA, China etc., adding that research is not limited to only medicinal or agricultural related issues.”
He said philosophy of methods, encourages philosophical creativity in research, “It is meant to bring out philosophical generation of concepts, theories and ideas. It is meant to encourage students to question the existing philosophical assumptions and status quo in a given field of knowledge such that new philosophical concepts are created.”
For successful rollout of government programs like the National Development Plan 4, Dr. Kanakulya said that Philosophy of Methods training needs to be integrated into such systems. “Philosophy of Methods focuses on ethical thinking aspects. For example, for a better rollout of the Parish Development Model, we need implementers to be ethical.” He added.
Prof. Sulait Tumwiine, the associate Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at MUBS said, “This is a discussion where new ideas are shared to guide and gauge applicability in the current knowledge diversity coupled with lots of technological development including Artificial Intelligence and Chat GPT.”
He added, “As professors of Universities, we need to understand how we leverage on what comes up so that it does not take our space, but also appreciate how we can support growth of knowledge. The Philosophy of Methods training is the answer.”
Dr. Jim Spire Ssentongo highlighted that Philosophy uses more of the critical mind than Science. He added that philosophy is more of speculation of the mind.
“Sustainability of philosophy Education encourages us to continue training. Philosophy being the oldest discipline retained special status in the academia as a pinnacle of pursuit of knowledge. All disciplines have major elements of philosophy citing examples in the philosophy of Mathematics and Physics.
Dr. Spire added, “If you do not understand philosophy, you cannot deeply investigate anything because philosophy is the reality of understanding everything. Philosophy is the basis of understanding what knowledge is and how it is arrived at.”
Also participating in the workshop was Prof. Joseph Ntaayi from MUBS, in his remarks he said PhD students need the philosophy of methods training to understand how to best to create knowledge. He added that ontological and epistemological questions that lead to good research design methods can only be answered by this training.
Dr. Robert Kakuru, a Lecturer in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences said that the Philosophy of Methods training is needed by every graduate student as well as supervisors to critically determine the choice of methods to use in academic research. For example, “If one wants to use a questionnaire as an interview approach, one should understand, why that approach and yet without this training, the why cannot be answered.” He added.
The Philosophy of Methods training was organized by Directorate of Graduate Training with funding support from the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA).
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