At the College of Education and External Studies (CEES), there was a buzz of excitement as faculty, staff, and students gathered to honor a remarkable figure: Professor Merab Kagoda, who recently celebrated her 71^st birthday and the successful recovery from heart surgery performed in India. The event was not just a birthday party; it was a heartfelt celebration of a life that has touched so many others, both within the college and beyond.

The hall was adorned with balloons and banners, and the air was filled with laughter and music. As guests mingled and shared stories, it was clear that Prof. Kagoda’s influence had rippled across the college, creating connections that would last a lifetime. Her recovery from heart surgery added a deeper significance to the celebration, a testament to her strength and resilience.

Prof. Kagoda, a respected educator and mentor, took the stage to express her gratitude to everyone who supported her through her health journey. She thanked the CEES staff for their financial and moral support during her surgery and recovery, a show of solidarity that warmed her heart. “I’m grateful to be here today, surrounded by such wonderful people,” she said, her voice full of emotion.

The college’s principal, Prof. Anthony Muwagga Mugagga, spoke warmly about Prof. Kagoda’s dedication to her work and her nurturing approach towards both staff and students. “When we were young lecturers, she would invite us to her office and offer guidance on how to conduct ourselves around students. Her advice was invaluable, and it helped us mature as educators,” he recalled. His words were met with nods of agreement from many in the room who had also benefited from Prof. Kagoda’s mentorship.

But Prof. Kagoda’s contributions extend far beyond classroom instruction. Her efforts to establish research partnerships have opened doors for many at the college. Prof. Mulumba Mathias, the Dean of the School of Education, praised her role in securing scholarships for several members of staff. “Her hard work and vision have created opportunities that will shape the future of our college,” he noted.

As the evening continued, there were more tributes to Prof. Kagoda’s legacy. Prof. Sarah Ssali, a member of the university council, shared her appreciation for Prof. Kagoda’s mentorship and for the service she and her husband, Mr. Kagoda, a former council member, had provided to the university. “It’s leaders like Prof. Kagoda who inspire the next generation of educators,” she said, emphasizing the importance of role models in academia.

The celebration culminated in a heartfelt toast, with everyone raising their glasses to honor a woman whose life and work have been a source of inspiration and hope. As the evening drew to a close, it was clear that Prof. Kagoda’s impact would be felt for many years to come, her legacy woven into the very fabric of the college she has helped to build.

The Institute of Open, Distance and e-Learning (IODeL), College of Education and External Studies (CEES), Makerere University is organizing the 3^rd TELLS Conference on Future Education 2024 due to take place from 6^th to 8^th August, 2024 on the theme: “Future Ready Education: Technologies and Strategies for learning communities.”

The organizing committee hereby invites abstracts from Educationists, Researchers, Experts, Technologists, Learning Designers, and Policy Makers for the upcoming conference.

Sub Themes

1. 21^st Century “soft-skills”
2. Micro credentials and micro degrees
3. Technology-enhanced pedagogical models
4. Digitalization, Digital inclusion and Gender
5. Large scale distributed educational technology infrastructure
6. Policies and practices on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Education

Abstracts are due on 23^rd May, 2024.
Submission: tells.iodel@mak.ac.ug

The Year 2023, has been a memorable one in the life of the College of Education and External Studies. The college has made a number of salient achievements, notwithstanding the challenges which when solved made us stand high as a prime graduate teacher training facility in the region and Uganda in particular.

This year’ s annual report 2023 presents the key activities, achievements, networks and challenges registered the college as it embarked back on the journey towards the second epoch of Makerere’s centenary celebrations in 2022 and existence.

With its tripartite mission of: Teaching, Research and Community outreach, the following have been registered:

The year begun with council approving the Makerere University Institute for Teacher Education and Research (MITER). MITER was incepted with a goal of contributing to the University Research Agenda cognizant of the current strategic direction of Makerere University which is skewed towards research led university. MITER was also meant to contribute to the National Teacher Policy (NTP, 2019) – which aims at professionalizing teacher education in Uganda through research.

To achieve its prime goal of professionalizing teacher education in Uganda, CEES, through MITER and in collaboration with the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has initiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to incept the desired critical pedagogy which is not only of importance to secondary education, but is key to revitalizing university and tertiary education in Uganda. The college is ever grateful to the Vice Chancellor Prof. Nawangwe Barnabas, the Deputy Vice Chancellor- Academic Affairs Prof Kakumba Umar and the Director NCDC Dr Baguma K. Grace. who have linked up Makerere University with The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) which is a body responsible for the development of educational curricula for Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions in Uganda. Cognizant of the fact that CEES –School of Education mainly serves the constituents of Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions in Uganda.

To realize and fulfill its networking mandate, the college has signed a number of MoUs for example: IODeL signed an MOU with MS Seed Global Health to provide e-Learning and e-Content Development Training for Lira University academic staff members. Forty (40) staff trained and developed e-content for their respective courses. The college also signed an MoU with Uganda police to train Uganda Police officers and men in soft skills. The college through CLL has continued to train and reach out to the most disadvantaged mostly girls through its collaboration with Love Binti International https://us.lovebinti.org “ Love Binti pushing Women empower Project and eyes” on helping their basic needs for sanitary pads and clothing by teaching them tailoring and other sift skills not requiring credited academic programmes.

This year, a number of memorial lectures, conferences, workshops and educational webinars have been arranged in the course of the year for example: Nsumba Lyazi Memorial Lecture of “the unforgettable education Legacy, the Prof. Senteza Kajubi memorial lecture where Senteza was eulogized for enormous contribution towards the education sector. The college also on July 24, 2023, hosted the Distance Education and Teacher Training in Africa (DETA) Conference. In the conference: Researchers discuss transformation of e-learning with a call to embrace distance and e-learnings and address the challenges associated with emerging Information and Communication Technologies. The Centre for Teaching and Learning Support, CEES in collaboration with the University College London, UK organized an Educational webinar entitled: Omissions in Sloane’s Jamaican collections: African slave trade and modern slavery building shared futures. The college also organized a dissemination workshop on ‘Increasing Access to Inclusive and Quality Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training through Open, Distance and e-Learning.

The project was funded by the Government of Uganda under the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (Mak-RIF). The college is ever grateful to the government of Uganda and the Ministry of Education and Sports. Staff in the College of Education and External Studies have embarked on a number of micro and macro educational research projects either sponsored by Makerere’s development partners or the government of Uganda through Mak-RIF. The college received a number of foreign students and vising scholars for example: CEES hosts 21 students from University of Agder, Norway. It also hosted professors from the university of Hiroshima, Japan. At the same time a number of faculty went for post-doctoral studies in USA, Finland and Norway. The Malmo-Makerere University staff and student mobility program has been renewed. It is hoped CEES –ECD/ECCE staff and students will benefit from the mobility to Malmo –Sweden. The college will this year present close to 939 students for graduation, 370 of them male while 569 are female. This number excludes the graduate students who are still defending their study projects. The college is very proud of its undergraduate students who incepted a project called “Teachers on the drive to keep Makerere University clean and off liters “.

As we enter the new year, 2024, the college of education is embarking of transforming its face and to refine its facilities to meet the national and international standards for Increased Access to Inclusive education, given its ever increasing numbers of special needs students. This year in the academic year 2023/24 the college received a pumper harvest of close to 1200 undergraduate BA. ED and BSc. ED student intake. It also saw an approximately 60% increase in the number of its graduate student and PGDE numbers.

The college also hopes to enhance its national and international visibility in e-pedagogical practice and research through IoDEL. The college given its strategic direction drawn from the Makerere University-research –led mantle, which pivots on enhanced staff and student’s capacity in educational research. CEES hopes to expand and grow the EASHESD by setting up a modern graduate training Centre with facilities such as smart and educational PhD conference study rooms at CEES-book bank.

The college hopes to increase its visibility in Uganda’s primary and secondary school education space since the DSTVE staff who are key in Ugandan STEM terrain have been oriented on the New Lower Secondary School Curriculum by NCDC staff courtesy of the CARNEGIE (CECAP) departmental grant. The college in the year 2024 also hopes to realize its dream of having the Early Child Study and Child support Centre built.

I do thank the entire College team for work well done in the year 2023. Specifically I thank Associate Professor Ronald Bisaso, the Deputy Principal for steering the academic mantle of the College, the Deans, Assoc. Prof. Mathias Mulumba, Dr. David Onen the out-going Dean East African School of Higher Education Studies and Development (EASHESD), Dr. Twine Bananuka , the outgoing Dean School of Distance and Lifelong Learning (SoDLL), Dr. Harriet Nabushawo , the incoming Dean SoDLL, Prof. Julius Kikooma who pacified the EASHESD, the various Heads of Departments (Dr. Nicholas Itaaga, Dr. Muhammad M. Kiggundu , Dr. John Ssentongo, the Directors of Institutes: Assoc. Prof Paul M. Birevu, Prof. Fred Masagazi Masaazi and not forgetting the CEES-Centre Coordinators: Dr. Oscar Mugula, Dr. Kabugo David, Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa and Dr. Miiro Farooq in AG. I would also wish to thank the staff who have carried out the teaching mission of CEES.

The College Leadership, staff and students do thank the University Council for providing the pedagogical and non-pedagogical facilitation requisite for their work. Specifically, they thank the Chair Council Mrs. Lorna Magara and her team who took time to visit and talk to the staff of CEES in this particular year ending. Such visits are not taken for granted, they boost staff and cause meaningful accountability on part of staff and the College Leadership.

We, in a very special way thank the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe and his team for always providing an understanding ear to our challenges and providing prompt solutions as well as providing the necessary mentorship to us all. Thank you very much.

I do thank the government of Uganda and the various national and international agencies which have funded our teaching, research and enabled us to network as our mandate dictates. We do thank you all and always will count on your support.

As We Build for the Future.

Prof. Anthony Muwagga Mugagga
PRINCIPAL