General
Prof. Nawangwe Commissions state-of-the-art Fire Detection & Protection System for Senate Building
By Bernard Buteera
On Monday afternoon the 13th of March 2023, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, commissioned the state-of-the-art fire detection and protection system for Senate Building, one of the buildings that houses the academic documents and records for the University.
In a speech read for him by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, Prof. Umar Kakumba, the Vice Chancellor thanked all the key partners; Mastercard Foundation and the Government Uganda, through the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (Mak-RIF), for funding the project to completion.
The Vice Chancellor pointed out that, learning from the horrific incident when the Main Building was gutted by fire in September 2020, the University could not risk having another sensitive building like Senate not to have fire detection and protection system.
“I would like to thank the Government of Uganda, through Mak-RIF and our partner Mastercard Foundation, for funding such an important project in the University. This fire detection and protection system is very essential for our institution in order to protect the lives of our stakeholders and our academic records.” Prof. Nawangwe noted.
Prof. Nawangwe further thanked Mrs. Patience Mushengyezi and the entire committee that steered the project right from phase 1 to completion.
“I would like to thank Mrs. Patience Mushengyezi, the PI and her team for the thoughtfulness and for the passion that came through during the proposal writing. The University Management can have strong proposals, but it doesn’t have a strong team to support in implementation, then all the good proposals would go to waste.” Prof. Nawangwe remarked.
On his part, Prof. Kakumba, thanked the University Management for supporting the first phase of the project through Mak-RIF.
“I would like to appreciate my Colleagues in Management for delivering the first phase of the proposal for digitization of our records under Mak-RIF. Digitization of our academic records is very critical to the institution.” Prof. Kakumba noted.
Prof. Kakumba also thanked Mastercard Foundation for the recovery support, which supported in the second phase of the project, which was the installation of fire detection and protection system.
“When our building got burnt, the first partner to extend a hand of support was the Mastercard Foundation, for which we are very grateful. Mastercard Foundation has supported Makerere University in many other projects, and we thank them very much.” He remarked.
Prof. Kakumba called upon the Estates Department and all other stakeholders, to ensure that the fire detection system is well maintained and serviced for effective and efficient use of the system.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Finance and Administration, Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, thanked the University Management, the Government of Uganda, the Academic Registrar’s Department, and the Mastercard Foundation for making the project possible.
“We all know what happened when the main building got burnt, it was a reflection that we could have done better. I hope that the people who have installed the equipment will give us manuals and offer training to staff on safe evacuation in case of any fire alerts with a fire exit plan in every room.” Prof. Alinaitwe remarked.
“I would like to join my colleagues to thank Mastercard Foundation for funding this project and many others in the University. Mastercard Foundation is here to catalyze us, we should look at this project as an example, so that we replicate it in other buildings across the university with our own resources.” Prof. Alinaitwe remarked.
Prof. Alinaitwe acknowledged the need for the University Management to enhance the issue of access control beyond the archives rooms in the Senate Building to other facilities at the University.
“We need to install CCTV cameras across all the facilities in the university, and be able to use them all the time.” Prof. Alinaitwe noted.
The Academic Registrar, Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi thanked members of the University Administration for always gracing events that celebrate achievements, such as the completion of the Fire detection and protection system.
“It feels good when you’re part of a progressive agenda. I wasn’t really in stewardship when the project started, but I have heard good things about it. I would also wish to convey our regards to Mastercard Foundation for enabling us to progress towards the achievement of our vision and dreams.” Prof. Buyinza remarked.
Prof. Buyinza further thanked the Digitizing Academic Records and Processes (DARP) Committee led by Mrs. Patience Mushengyezi for the job well done.
“I sincerely thank my colleague, Mrs. Patience Mushengyezi and her team, for having a heart for the institution, serving beyond self, and the visionary leadership you’ve offered to your team.” Prof. Buyinza pointed out.
On her part, the Principal Investigator (PI) of the project, Mrs. Patience Mushengyezi, thanked the University Management, Mak-RIF and Mastercard Foundation for the tremendous support rendered to the project.
“It gives me great pleasure that we are commissioning the Fire Protection and Detection System for Senate Building, including the banks housed in this building. This is a dream come true!” Mrs. Mushengyezi remarked.
Mrs. Mushengyezi informed the gathering that the project was mainly funded by Mak-RIF under the Government of Uganda for the first phase, which was mainly digitizing the academic records, and Mastercard Foundation which supported the second phase of the project, which was the fire detection and protection system.
“This project was a multiphase process; the first phase was to prepare for system and digitization of our records, and the second phase was mainly the installation of fire detection and protection system. We are very grateful to Mak-RIF and Mastercard Foundation for funding the project to completion” Mrs. Mushengyezi informed the gathering.
The DARP project was implemented in collaboration with East African School of Library and Information Sciences (EASLIS), College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS), Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS) and the College of Education and External Studies (CEES).
Bernard Buteera, is the Communications & Web Officer of Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Makerere University.
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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