General
Guild EC 2021 & 86th Guild Speaker Applauded for Delivering Petition-Free Election
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs)-DVCAA, Prof. Umar Kakumba, has this afternoon presented trophies to the Guild Electoral Commission (EC) 2021 and the 86th Guild Speaker, in recognition of their contribution and efforts that delivered a Petition-Free Election.
In her remarks, the Dean of Students, Mrs. Winifred Kabumbuli thanked the DVCAA for accepting to present trophies to the outgoing Guild Electoral Commission 2021, for their outstanding performance, the first of its kind in a long time at Makerere. She noted that the team’s efforts were exemplary to the University community, most especially the students. She emphasized how proud she was of the team’s performance and noted that the brief ceremony was in fulfillment of the DVCAA’s recommendation that outstanding performance should be acknowledged and appreciated. Members of the team that received trophies included;
- Mr. William Kananga, Chairperson
- Ms. Angel Kampi, 86th Guild Speaker
- Ms. Tracy Kirabo, Vice Chairperson
- Mr. Martin Wambona, Commissioner for Finance
- Mr. Saad Ddumba, Public Relations Officer
The DVCAA in response thanked the Dean of Students for her passion and vigour towards nurturing and instilling a great sense of responsibility amongst the young leaders. He noted that managing student affairs is never easy, especially since the students emerge from different backgrounds. He observed that the University is a point of congregation for students from all walks of life originating from close to a thousand secondary schools across the entire country. This congregation, he noted, is characterised by varying behaviour, cultural orientation and aspirations.
Prof. Kakumba therefore applauded the outgoing Guild Electoral Commission 2021 and the 86th Guild Speaker for exemplifying good leadership. He paid tribute to the tem for their focus and pointed out that leadership is about thoughtful decisions and that any leader should never suffer from indecision. He stated that every decision whether good or bad is a learning experience.
Echoing the Dean of Students, the DVCAA further applauded the team for being exemplary. He informed them that the University Council had infact commended the Students’ Affairs Committee headed by Dr. Hellen N. Nkabala and the student leadership for effectively and successfully managing the student guild electoral process. Prof. Kakumba concluded that together, the Dean of Students, Students’ Affairs Committee and the Guild Electoral Commission 2021 had indeed left an indelible mark. He therefore commended the Dean of Students organising the award ceremony despite several competing interests.
In his acceptance speech, the Chairperson, Mr. William Kananga thanked the DVCAA and the Dean of Students for appreciating their efforts. He noted that the team neither had any clashes nor intrigue during the guild electoral process. He said that his team followed the law and guidelines, received a lot of goodwill to deliver a successful election.
He was also happy to inform the DVCAA and the Dean of Students that the entire team of the Guild Electoral Commission 2021 and the 86th Guild Speaker would be graduating this May, which was a rarity with student leaders.
The DVCAA congratulated the team upon achieving such matching their exemplary leadership with good academic performance.
Written by: Doreen Tazwaire, Personal Assistant, Office of the DVCAA
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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