On Thursday 2^nd November 2023 the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Umar Kakumba hosted a delegation from the University of South Africa (UNISA) led by Prof. Tennyson Mgutshini, the Executive Dean, College of Graduate Studies and Prof. Thenjiwe Meyiwa, the Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation. They were accompanied by Dr. Maxwell Otim Onapa, the Director Science Research and Innovation at the Science, Technology, and Innovation Secretariat-Office of the President (STI-OP).

Welcoming the delegation, Prof. Kakumba shared that Makerere had in 2022 completed year-long celebrations of 100 years of existence, during which the University renewed her commitment to serve community. He pointed out the large volume of research produced by Makerere that is slowly but progressively penetrating the community, with the aim of rallying behind Government programmes aimed at fostering transformation of society as evidence of this.

The Acting Vice Chancellor nevertheless emphasized that the University is earmarking a lot of knowledge translation initiatives with the aim of impacting policy and practice with well-researched evidence. This, he noted is undertaken through ten colleges, 30 Schools, 115 Departments, various research centres including African Centres of Excellence and various other research units.  

On behalf of UNISA, the head of delegation Prof. Mgutshini noted that at 150 years of age his institution is the premier institution in South Africa with over 370,000 students, and graduating over 54,000 annually. In terms of diversity, UNISA students originate from 110 countries, with the majority belonging to Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other African countries, an attribute that contributes to the diversity of campus culture and research produced.

Additionally, more than 40% of the students study on part-time basis, with females constituting 70.7% of the population. UNISA’s strength as an open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) university accords students the flexibility to study as they pursue their careers, resulting in 62% of students being between twenty-five and thirty-nine years of age.

Prof. Mgutshini further shared UNISA’s ten catalytic niche areas, which act as research priorities and areas for scholarly collaborations. He particularly highlighted three; Aviation and Aeronautical Studies, Health Studies/Medicine, and Feminist, Womanist, Bosadi Theorizations as areas the institution is keen to address due to longstanding gender inequalities, racial divisions and the absence of communities of practice. The other seven catalytic niche areas are; Marine studies, Automotive, Energy, Space study and Square Kilometer Array, Fourth Industrial revolution and Digitalisation, Natural Sciences (Biotechnological studies), and Student Support and Co-Curricular activities.

Discussing international collaborative activities and academic areas of interest, the head of delegation expressed UNISA’s readiness and willingness to share best practices in ODeL, given the institutions substantive Learning Management System (LMS) and its rich collection of resources developed over the years. He further cited conducting collaborative multidisciplinary research projects, joint publications and joint academic meetings, joint conferences and symposia producing conference proceedings as some of the low-hanging fruits. Equally emphasized was the co-development and facilitation of research development and enhancement of programmes as a way of sharing best practices in building student entrepreneurship capacity and entrepreneurial activity in research.

Contributing to the discussion Prof. Thenjiwe Meyiwa explained that UNISA has been able to achieve high female enrolment thanks to comprehensive female student enablement programmes that start right from National Policies and trickle down to Colleges and individual performance plans. Programmes also support academic and administrative staff to undertake their Masters and PhD studies with annual awards for the best performing, youngest woman graduate, and other categories.

Discussing the way forward, Prof. Mgutshini proposed three members of delegation led by Makerere Alumnus, Prof. James Wabwire Oguttu to thresh out the finer areas of collaboration, and act as contact persons on the UNISA side. These were matched by nominations of six Makerere staff by the Acting Vice Chancellor.

The Makerere nominees will be led by Prof. Kikooma Julius and will include; Dr. Godfrey Mayende-Deputy Director IODeL, Prof. Bruno Yawe-Deputy Principal College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Prof. Pamela Khanakwa- Dean, School of Liberal and Performing Arts (SPLA), Mr. Hudson Musoke-Director Legal Affairs, and Dr. Julia Kigozi-Dean, School of Food Technology, Nutrition, and Bioengineering.