On 5^th November 2024, Law School Deans, Academicians, researchers and students from Africa and China met at School of Law (SoL), Makerere University in Kampala Uganda for the 6^th China-Africa Forum for Law School Deans. The Forum themed, ‘Legal Guarantee and Educational Support for High-Quality Development of China-Africa’ was hosted by SoL in partnership with Renmin University of China and Xiangtan University, China.

This forum was proposed at the 8^th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in 2021 in Dakar, Senegal, The resultant Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) explicitly proposed to support holding the China-Africa Forum of Law School Deans to among other things: encourage and assist China-Africa Universities in jointly building China-Africa legal research centres; training of legal professionals; and promoting China-Africa exchanges and cooperation for legal knowledge and legal talents.

In his remarks, Dr. Ronald Naluwairo – Associate Professor and Principal, SoL welcomed participants to SoL, Makerere University and Uganda. ‘SoL opened its doors in 1968 and has grown into one of the greatest schools of law in Africa and enjoys global recognition for its work’, he said. He thanked Xiangtan University, China with who Makerere has a memorandum of understanding for the collaboration that started in 2014 and introducing the other partners present. He expressed hope that at the end of the meeting, tangible areas of collaboration supporting social justice will be defined for the partners; and a compilation of a report of the papers presented for knowledge transfer and policy development.

Professor Henry Alinaitwe – Deputy Vice Chancellor/Finance & Administration, Makerere University represented the Vice Chancellor, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe. He welcomed participants and encouraged them to tour Uganda, Pearl of Africa before departure for an appreciation of Uganda’s beauty. ‘Teaching of the law can contribute to social transformation of our people in Africa and China. This is therefore an important platform for discussion improvements in legal education for both Africa and China’, he said. Professor Alinaitwe thanked the partners for choosing Makerere to host and hoped for productive, enlightening deliberations during the forum which will lead to enhancement of the collaboration.

The forum was officially opened by His Excellency, Ambassador Zhang Lizhong – Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Uganda. Ambassador Lizhong expressed pleasure at seeing the participants from China and Africa in the room to support the China-Africa collaborations which have built synergy with multiple plans and strategies. He explained that in Uganda alone, China continues to export promotion, infrastructure development (roads, dams, and airport) among others. He noted that there has been an increase of people exchange between China and Africa and it is therefore important that the nations understand better the legal setups for better collaboration and development mutually beneficial to all. ‘I thank Makerere for the support of the collaboration and I hope to see development of legal research centres as outlined in the Accra Action Plan’ the ambassador noted.

Presentations by participants through the day culminated into proposal of the following as key issues for further consideration and development:

1. Recognition that legal education and legal exchanges are essential foundations of friendly cooperation between China and Africa and the China-Africa Forum of Law School Deans is an effective platform to promote the cooperation. The Forum will therefore be held regularly.
2. Expand the scope, enhance effectiveness and impact of the Forum.
3. Establish exchange mechanisms to promote cooperation, including joint international conferences and co-publish academic journals.
4. Encourage law teachers’ research cooperation among faculty to improve research quality and facilitate mutual visits.
5. Promote friendly exchanges among young legal professionals, providing support for their studies and exchanges at partner institutions
6. Collaborate of developing educational programmes, including courses on comparative studies of China-African legal systems.

The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released lists for Mature Age Entry applicants admitted under the Private Sponsorship Scheme for the Academic Year 2023/2024.

The lists can be accessed by following the links below:

• Mature Age Admission List -Private Sponsorship 2024/25
• Mature Age Admission Bachelor of Laws -Private Sponsorship 2024/25

I am delighted to present to you the Makerere University School of Law 2023 Annual report. The report highlights the major activities undertaken and the major outputs in light of our core mandate of teaching, research and community outreach. It also highlights the challenges the School is facing and future plans.

With respect to teaching and learning, we successfully implemented all the scheduled activities including teaching, examinations, orientation for new freshers, field attachment, graduate admission exams and graduation. At the 73rd graduation ceremony of Makerere University, the School presented a total of 249 graduands of which 23 were awarded Master of Laws degrees and 226 awarded Bachelor of Laws degrees. To make our graduate programmes more relevant and competitive, we revised the Master of Laws programme and the Doctor of Laws programme. Additional to these revised programmes, in the course of next year, we expect to launch two new specialized Master of Laws degree programmes which are currently before the National Council for Higher Education for accreditation.

Students’ participation in moot court competitions is one of the major methodologies we employ in teaching our learners. Besides the learning, participation in moot competitions gives our learners exposure and provides them great opportunities for net-working. I am happy to report that in 2023, our students excelled in all the national and international moot court competitions they participated in. They won the Phillip Jessup International Moot Court Competitions national rounds and were supposed to represent Uganda at the international rounds but failed to secure visas in time. Our students also won the inaugural Gender and the Law moot competition. We emerged first runners-up in the Great Lakes International Humanitarian Law moot court competitions.

In the area of research, our faculty undertook a number of research projects and published many scholarly journal articles, books and reports on different subjects. I congratulate them for these research out puts. Among our major research outputs for 2023 is the edited book volume on Militarization and Development in Uganda. This publication unravels how militarization is taking place in the different sectors, the implications, and the hard choices Uganda has to make with respect to governance, human rights and economic development.

With respect to community outreach, our faculty and students participated in a number of initiatives and activities that were undertaken by our different units in particular, the Public Interest Law Clinic (PILAC), the Refugee Law Project (RLP) and the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC). Among these include: training of University staff and other stakeholders on refugee rights and duties; training of police officers on disability rights and the law; legal aid camp for students and staff of Makerere University; participation in the Uganda Law Society (ULS) probono day; and conducting the Administrative Law short course in various parts of the country. In addition to providing learning opportunities to students who participate in them, our community outreach activities are very important for making our School more relevant in terms of empowering the local communities and addressing some of their legal-related challenges and needs.

I thank the Government of Uganda, Makerere University Council, Makerere University Top Administration and all our partners and well-wishers for your support that enabled us to implement numerous activities and achieve the highlighted outputs. I also thank colleagues in the administration at our School, staff and students for participating in the different activities.

As We Build for the Future

Ronald Naluwairo, PhD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & PRINCIPAL