The Dean East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS) Prof. Constant Obura has called for more staff and student mobility schemes to support Makerere University’s internalization agenda.

Prof. Obura with the school management team was on 25^th April 2023 meeting a team of three officials from the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås (UoB)  led by Veronica Trépagny. Veronica Trépagny is the Strategic Advisor of International Affairs, Faculty of Librarianship, Information, Education & IT, University of Borås who has had engagement with the EASLIS since 2012.

Veronica Trépagny, is also the Project Coordinator, Faculty of Librarianship, Information, Education and IT (including The Swedish School of Library and Information Science). She was accompanied to Makerere University by two other officials John Webber and Sirpa Bark.

EASLIS  has been running two projects:- the Linnaeus-Palme titled: Sustainable Internationalisation in Library and Information Science Education financed by the Swedish Council for Higher Education and the  Erasmus+International Credit Mobility (ICM)  titled: Enhanced, Sustainable and Integrated Internationalisation Financed by the Erasmus+/European Union.

The projects build on previous partnerships with UoB focusing on training PhD students, staff and supervisors exchange. The project partners are in eight countries including;  Albania, Brazil, Canada, China, Iran, Rwanda, Uganda and Sweden–the Lead Applicant.

Prof. Obura explained that the cooperation between the School and the University of Borås anchors very well with the Makerere University Internationalization agenda anchored in its 2020-2030 Strategic plan.

Prof. Obura appreciated  Makerere University Management for approving the collaboration and authorizing the travel of students and staff.

“The university supports any initiative and programs anchored on the internationalization in terms of staffing, staff and student mobilities, improving curricular and cost-sharing of teaching and learning with international partners.

We are happy and grateful to the University of Borås for accepting to work with us and strengthening our human resources to achieve the objectives of the university”, the Dean said

Prof. Obura expressed the need for staff to tap into resources outside to support the mobility programmes on the grounds that mobility schemes contribute to high-quality graduates and staff who are competitive in the job market.

“This is one of the strategies for making our graduates relevant outside. They are highly exposed, and knowledgeable. They understand different cultures. Staff come back fresh and energized, appreciate the kind of environment, culture and work people do outside and these are the kinds of things and attitudes they bring back home and improve services rendered in the university”, the Dean stressed.

Speaking on the university’s four-tier system, the school arrangement and staffing levels, Prof. Obura proposed the need for the school and the University of Borås to have joint PhD and Masters programs, co-teaching and supervision, collaborative research and scholarly writing and mobilizing resources to build the capacity of staff.

The Dean appealed for more collaborative efforts to support government and university development programmes, especially strengthening the human capacity as   anchored in the Uganda Vision 2040 and the National Development Programme and the university Strategic Plan 2020-2030.

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Prof Obura commended the project lead, Veronica Trépagny for her efforts towards improving the human capacity at Makerere University. Prior to the Linnaeus-Palme project in 2012, Veronica visited EASLIS  and since then, Makerere and the University of Borås have been having mobilities.

“Under this arrangement, my school and department have been proud and supportive of this cooperation and when you come up with the new openings, I am sure that the head of school will go ahead without any hesitation.

This is a cooperation that has enriched our department very deeply. It has opened up our department to the world and to Uganda in particular”, Veronica said

Veronica recalled that before the 2012 program with EASLIS,  they also  PhD program through the sida cooperation with the central management where two Librarians Ruth Nalumaga (Library Director Gender) and Jane (Retired) were trained.

Under this cooperation, beneficiaries, spend time in Sweden, doing PhD Sandwich and within the SIDA project that started in 2015, students are admitted from Makerere and are supervised from the Swedish side. In total there are 8 PhD students, one was ready for graduation.

In this collaboration she added, many staff have been able to come from Sweden to Uganda and visited Makerere University.

“Sustainability is important for both the Linnaeus-Palme and ICM projects that means that, even if that phase of ICM ends in June 2023, the philosophy of the cooperation is that we continue working together and that we are integrated” she said.

To integrate and internationalize more, Veronica proposed the need to increase the international experience of students where at least 20% can travel but also 80 % utilize the digital space. Other ideas included joint proposal writing and research articles, joint PhD programs and online seminars.

The projects Coordinator, Makerere University East African School of  Library and Information Sciences Richard Batte  reported that  under Linnaeus Palmer, three Undergraduate students travelled in September 2021 and one staff from the School of Library and Information.

Six undergraduate students were supported under the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Scheme (ICM) and Six staff mobilities. Of these, three were from the School of Library & Information Science, two from the School of Education and one from the School of Computing & Informatics Technology. Two Administrative Staff comprising one from the Main Library and One from the School of Library and Information Science also benefited under Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Scheme.

Five mobilities from Sweden to Uganda have been supported  (Three to the School of Library and Information Science and two to the School of Education).

“In total, fourteen staff mobilities (Mak to Boras & Boras to Mak) have benefitted and these include twelve Academic Staff and two Administrative Staff. Nine were from Makerere to Boras and five from Boras to Makerere.

We are also happy to report that nine Undergraduate Students benefited and six on graduation got employment “, Batte said.

Experiences and Lessons from the  Mobility Scheme Beneficiary

A technology for charging and discharging library resources, a  National  Bibliography and a National Scheme needed 

Sharing his experience following a trip to the University of Borås in Sweden, Aloysius Mwanje Ssenono applauded Veronica Trépagny for the hospitality and great arrangement.

Mwanje shared that he slept like a king in Scandic and that at the time they arrived, the weather was changing to spring and almost like Uganda with sunny conditions during the day with cold nights.

“We had a tour of the Library and I  liked the way they do charging and discharging. The Physical contact with the client and the book is minimal as they use a lot of machines and technology. If we did a collaboration, we can see how we can have such a technology in Uganda for demonstration, teaching and learning and research.,” Mwanje said

Mwanje reported that he also engaged colleagues about who is responsible for the national bibliography and the national scheme.

“I learnt that Sweden has a national scheme. Their language has the alphabet and special characters so, they came up with a special scheme used in the country. It would be also good if we had. Maybe we engage the school, the national library of Uganda which has that mandate to come up with the national scheme. We can write a project to have it”, Mwanje added

The National  Bibliography and Scheme according to Mwanje is a good initiative for handling specific literature on a language and especially for Uganda which has so many languages.

“The other idea is having an international PhD or a Master’s which is co-taught by Sweden and Uganda bringing students from Sweden and Uganda together”, Mwanje requested.

This, he said, would picture students internationally and mirror Makerere at a different level.

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