Graduation statistics

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has presented 638 students for the award of degrees and diplomas at the 74^th graduation ceremony of Makerere University. Of the 638 students, 20 have graduated with PhDs (7 female, 13 male), 104 with Masters degrees (49 female, 55 male), 3 with a Postgraduate diploma (all male), and 511 with Bachelor’s degrees (220 female, 291 male). During the course of the 74^th graduation ceremony that commenced on Monday, 29^th January 2024 and will end on 2^nd February, a total of 12,913 graduands will receive degrees and diplomas of Makerere University. Of these, a total of 132 students will graduate with PhDs, 1,585 with Masters degrees, 11,016 with Bachelor’s degrees, 156 with postgraduate diplomas, and 24 with undergraduate diplomas. 53% of the graduands are female and 47% are male. In the category of PhD graduands, 46 are female and 86 are male. In the category of students graduating with Master’s degrees, 699 are female and 886 are male.

Vice Chancellor commends CAES research output

Addressing the congregation, the Acting Chancellor, also Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe commended the College for the enormous research output that directly addresses national development challenges. “With the growing population, there is need to invest in food security. I commend CAES for the many projects aimed at addressing the challenge.” In 2023, the College through the Department of Agricultural Production trained and exposed 145 different categories of soybean stakeholders from Karamoja including District Agriculture officers, extension workers and local seed business holders to state-of-the-art seed and agronomic production practices and post-harvest handling techniques. Additionally, the College in collaboration with Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) disseminated over 55 metric tons of Soybean foundation seed to the districts of Kalenga, Kabong, Amudat, Nabilatuk, Napak and Nakapiripirit. The College is also responsible for the Soybean component in the current National Oil Seeds Project (NOSP) that is funded by IFAD and the Government of Uganda. This project has a hub in Karamoja operating in the districts of Napak, Nakapiripirit, Nabilatuk, Abim, Kabong.

“It is also pleasing to note that the Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI) under the College has been identified as a premium centre to train quality PhDs in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology and will now be known as an African Host Centre (AHU/C). This will support the production of quality seed adaptive to climate change,” the Vice Chancellor noted. MaRCCI, in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural Production at CAES, is charged with training quality PhD students from across Africa to address the human resource gap of highly qualified specialists in the fields of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology. The first cohort of Ten (10) scholars from Benin, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan and hosts Uganda have already commenced their study programs with RSIF funding. Later this year (2024), another group of 4 PhDs from Nigeria and Rwanda will join as cohort 2. This program expects to enroll at least 10 PhDs every year at Makerere University for the foreseeable future with full funding.                                                                                                          

 The Vice Chancellor also commended the College for developing a cutting-edge solar-powered cooking solution, MakSol Cooker that will revolutionize cooking practices while reducing carbon footprints in households. “The innovation will create positive impact on public health, and mitigate the environmental consequences of traditional cooking practices. We thank the Government of Uganda for supporting this initiative through the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (Mak-RIF).” He equally appreciated the College for a new project aimed at improving tea production and productivity in the country. Funded by the Danish Fellowship Centre under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, the Project, Nature-based Solutions for Climate-Resilient Tea Production in Uganda (NbS4Tea), is envisaged to sustainably bridge the tea yield gap in Uganda by developing research-based NbS for enhanced climate resilience of tea production systems. Through the project, the research team led by Dr Alex Nimusiima from the Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences will identify and recommend climate resilient tea varieties, develop new methods and knowledge on locally available organic resources and NbS, innovate and deploy affordable irrigation technologies, empower vulnerable communities in tea production and processing, and identify export market strategies to substantially increase tea production and productivity in Uganda.

Status of research and innovations, and aspirations to transform Makerere into a research-led University

Presenting the status of research and innovations at Makerere, the Vice Chancellor noted that as a result of the various partnerships forged over time, the University’s research output in terms of innovations and publications had tremendously increased. On the aspirations to transform Makerere into a research-led University as stipulated in the 2020/2030 Strategic Plan, the Vice Chancellor explained that with funding from the Government of Uganda through the Mak-RIF, the University was supporting PhD research ideas that generate knowledge that addresses national development priorities. “Additionally, through the same fund, we are supporting the commercialization of projects that have demonstrated the potential for scaling up. These commercialization efforts have been complemented by our partners including the UNDP who have supported the establishment of state-of-the-art Innovation Pod, the first of 13 such pods to be established across Africa. The Pod will facilitate students to apply design thinking to solve societal problems and will offer collaborative working spaces to enable students create business ideas.”

Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award

Through his inaugural Makerere University Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards introduced this year with the aim of appreciating outstanding performers in research and publication, the Vice Chancellor presented plaques and certificates of recognition to the best five researchers from each of the 10 colleges. Based on the highest number of publications between the year 2017 and 2023 according to the Scopus database, Prof. Moses Robert Kamya and Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze from the College of Health Sciences emerged the best overall male and female researchers. Prof. Moses Robert Kamya has 271 publications and Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze has 153 publications in the aforementioned period. The recipients of the awards at CAES are; Prof. Nakimbugwe Dorothy, Prof. John H. Muyonga, Prof. Kaaya Natigo Archileo, and Prof. Mukisa Muzira Ivan from the Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, and Prof. Egeru Anthony from the School of Agricultural Sciences.

Appreciation to Government and other development partners

The Vice Chancellor appreciated the Government of Uganda for its continued support to Makerere University. “It would not be possible for v to realise all these achievements had it not been for the unwavering support of our Visitor, our Minister, Parliament and the entire Government. I wish to convey our appreciation to H.E. the President and the entire Government for the continued support to Makerere University, especially the support to staff welfare and the Research and Innovation Fund. We once again pledge our commitment to serving our country with maximum dedication through training of highly skilled human resource, research for development and support to Government programmes including the Parish Development Model and measures aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.” He also appreciated all stakeholders who are providing scholarships to enable bright, but economically disadvantaged students to attain education at Makerere and to support research and innovation. These include: Makerere University Council through the Female Scholarship Foundation, the Madhvani Foundation, the Government of Uganda through the Higher Education Students Financing Board, Sida of Sweden, the Embassy of China, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Government Ministries, State House, NORAD, Gerda Henkel Foundation, Mellon Foundation, USAID, NIH, Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Centre for Disease Control, ARUA, RUFORUM, IUCEA and many others.

Makerere University Transcripts and Certificates

The Vice Chancellor noted that the University had come up with measures aimed at making the issuance of academic transcripts and certificates very fast and convenient by shortening the clearance process. “With the support of the University Council and Senate, the Department of the Academic Registrar, the Directorate of ICT Support Services, and the leadership at the Colleges, the academic transcripts for students graduating during the 74^th graduation ceremony were printed before graduation. The academic transcripts are ready and they are due for issuance to graduands who have satisfied the academic and financial obligations. I therefore urge all our graduands to pick their transcripts from their respective colleges at the end of this graduation ceremony.”