Members of Council and Management, Board of Trustees, MURBS Secretariat, Staff Ambassadors and other stakeholders in a group photo after the meeting held on 22nd Oct 2024
Dr. Elizabeth Patricia Nansubuga, the Board Chairperson of the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (MURBS), has announced that the MURBS fund value has grown to UGX 409.2 billion as of the 2023/24 financial year.
Dr. Nansubuga made the announcement during the presentation of the MURBS Performance Report for the 2023/24 financial year, which ended on June 30, 2024. The report was presented to members of the University Council and Management at a meeting held on October 22, 2024, at the Makerere University Telepresence Centre, Senate Building.
The meeting, which preceded the Annual General Meeting scheduled for October 24, 2024, was attended by several key figures, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, University Secretary Mr. Yusuf Kiranda, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, and a representative of the CEO of the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), Cosmas Ssenyonga, among other dignitaries.
MURBS is the mandatory scheme for Makerere University staff. It was established under irrevocable trusts with effect from 1st April 2009. It was set up by Makerere University for the purpose of providing retirement benefits to employees of Makerere University upon retirement from the University.
A section of the audience follow proceedings.
In her address, Dr. Nansubuga emphasized that, over the last 14 years, MURBS has grown into the fourth-largest retirement benefits scheme in Uganda by fund value and is regarded as one of the best-managed schemes in the country.
She acknowledged the efforts, hard work, commitment and resilience of the past and current leaders for the continuous growth of the scheme.
“MURBS Trustees have worked through different challenges in the past years to make it a strong scheme. These challenges have also enabled the trustees to develop and establish good relations with different sector players and its principal stakeholders,” she said.
The Financial Year 2023/24 under review marked the beginning of the implementation of the Board’s new Strategic Plan (23/24 – 27/28) which is centered around four strategic pillars – Member satisfaction, Financial Sustainability, Institutional capacity, and Stakeholder satisfaction.
She explained that through this they have been able to grow the fund value of the scheme by 16.1% from last financial year. She explained that although they did not reach their goal of improving the fund value by 17%, they appreciate the stakeholders for the milestone reached.
“By 30th June 2023, MURBS had a fund value of 352.4 billion. The Trustees targeted Fund growth of 17%, and I am glad to inform you, that the fund value of MURBS, as per the Audited Financial Statements of 30th June 2024 is 409.2 billion, which is an increase of 16.1%, failing to hit the target by less than 1%. This achievement was made possible by strategic periodical activities undertaken by the Board and our fund managers, supported by the strong oversight committees of the Board,” she stated.
Dr. Elizabeth Patricia Nansubuga
She further shared that MURBS was able to improve the funds’ value after having an impressive financial performance, recording a net investment income of UGX 44.6 billion, far higher than the UGX 34.4 billion was collected in contributions during the financial year.
“The Performance filters down to all members through the interest that has been declared for the Financial Year 2023/2024. The Trustees will declare the interest on members’ balances during the Annual General Meeting on October 24, 2024,” she said.
It is against this background that Dr. Nansubuga revealed that the interest that the Trustees are awarding with respect to the Financial Year that ended 30th June 2024 will be higher than the one awarded last Financial Year. The very figure will be declared at the members’ AGM on Thursday, 24th October 2024.
Dr. Nansubuga further revealed that in order to have members who are grounded in protecting the benefits of the members, the Trustee made a decision to train its staff in Tax, Corporate Governance, Digital Trust and Cybersecurity, Investment opportunities in the Downturn landscape, Data Protection and Privacy Awareness, among others.
Dr. Godwin Kakuba -Secretary, MURBS Board of Trustees
“Aware that one of the most common risks to a retirement benefits scheme is having members of the Board of Trustees who are not fully empowered to undertake their responsibility of governing the Scheme, the Trustees set out to strengthen the Board of Trustees’ capacity in various skills during the year,” she said.
“The Scheme recruited staff to focus on project remittances but also maintained all its staff who crossed over from the 2022/2023 FY. The Trustees are glad that the impact of the training undertaken is reflected in the execution of the different officers’ roles,” added Dr. Nansubuga.
“As of July 2023, 1153 members had benefits above 100 million, and by June 2024, 1166 members held benefits above 100 million even after giving out Ushs11 billion in Mid-term Access benefits. In addition, the FY started with only one member having at least half a billion but we closed with four members having at least half a billion and a total of 538 members with benefits over Ushs250 million,” she said.
Dr. Nansubuga also informed the conference that MURBS received its 7th Fire Award in the category of Retirement Benefits Schemes this year in recognition of their continuing excellence. This award reflects MURBS’ performance in comparison to her industry counterparts.
Dr. Nansubuga also used the opportunity to express her gratitude to Makerere University management for their ongoing assistance in ensuring prompt remittance of all contributions.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe
“At this moment, allow me to appreciate the Sponsor for remitting all the contributions to the FY ended. In the same vein, MURBS appreciates Makerere University Council and the Government of Uganda for paying the final installment of the In-house debt. Going forward, the university is assured of very good publicity concerning its handling of retirement matters at Makerere University,” Dr Nansubuga said.
Speaking at the event, Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe who first gave a history of the previous schemes that the University community used previously, underscored the importance of the scheme in giving confidence to the University’s staff.
“This scheme is extremely important to our staff because it is the only scheme which saves money for them, such that when they retire, they have a package. So, this is extremely important to our staff that even when they retire, they will live a normal life,” Prof. Nawangwe explained.
The Vice-Chancellor thanked the MURBS board of trustees for ensuring that the fund’s value grows by 40 plus billion shillings.
“I cannot thank the board of trustees enough, the managers, and administrators, for a job well done. I congratulate you for all those awards you have won, and it is just for Makerere to set the bar for the rest,” he said.
Professor Nawangwe called upon the MURBS Board of Trustees to consider investing in the Makerere Masterplan, which is seeks to develop the university’s territory around the country.
“I encourage MURBS to get interested in the Makerere University investment and development plans so that it is not just developers who have no connection that benefit, but the staff themselves who have worked for the University diligently for a long time, they can benefit from investments on this land,” he suggested.
On his part, Mr. George Bamugemereirwe, one of the board trustees thanked the University Management and Council for empowering MURBS.
“I want to commend the management of Makerere University for taking the initiative to think ahead, plan for people, and to invest for the future because retirement is a must,” he said.
“The danger of retirement is that it can be traumatic, some are lucky to have a full career, but I can tell you that there are very few jobs these days that can tolerate you for life. Contract jobs where you serve for a specific number of years are on the rise,” he added.
Mr. George Bamugemereirwe, representative of Mak Council on the Board of Trustees
Mr. Bamugemereirwe stressed that retirement is very vulnerable for many individuals and therefore Makerere staff’s benefits should been safeguarded like it has been duly done by MURBS.
“Retirement is a very vulnerable time for many people and many actually fall victim to scammers’ loss, You’ll be vulnerable to a scammer who will come trying to advise on how to invest your money. So we thank MURBS that they have put measures to safeguard, and ring-fence workers’ money,” he said.
On his part, Mr. Cosmas Ssenyonga who represented the CEO of Uganda Retirements Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), thanked Makerere University management for always remitting contributions on a timely basis which has allowed the scheme to have that great performance.
“I want to thank the sponsors of this scheme which is the University management because without them I am not certain if the scheme would have had this kind of performance. They do remit contributions on a timely basis and that I can confirm because we receive quarterly returns on contributions,” he said.
Mr. Cosmas Ssenyonga represented the CEO of Uganda Retirements Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA)
Mr. Ssenyonga also praised the board of trustees for their adequacy in achieving their goal as a retirement benefit system, which is to ensure that their University staff enjoy a respectable life after they retire.
“I commend the board of trustees; they have done good for not only the scheme but the entire sector. When study the operations of MURBS, in terms of performance indicators especially, the efficiency indicator, they rank among the first two,” Mr. Ssenyonga added.
Ssenyonga hailed the board of trustees for implementing best practices, which prompted URBRA to examine MURBS as a model scheme when considering how to strengthen governance of such entities.
The Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) has in collaboration with Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors.
Participants were academic staff from two colleges namely, College of Engineering, Art and Design (CEDAT) and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
The three-day training that took place at the Telepresence Centre, Senate Building ended on Friday 20thJune 2025.
In his closing remarks to the participants, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “This is the first cohort we are working together with the Center for Teaching and Learning to put together continuous professional development Program so that we are able to enforce the new teaching and learning policy.”
He said that before lecturers are allocated students for supervision, they must first go through this form of formal teaching and learning training to equip them thoroughly with certification required of supervision of graduate students.
“We are coming up with process to ensure that the certificates earned by participants allow you to supervise graduate students. This is the direction of the university and we must ensure that such trainings are concluded and completed successfully by all participants”, Prof. Kikooma.
Prof. Julius Kikooma – Director of Graduate Training
“We can only have you certified upon completing all the exercises in the training process. This is when you will be eligible to receive the work load for supervision”, He added.
“This training of Supervisors is going to be continuous so that all academic staff in colleges and schools are equipped. This first cohort is going to be our building block to the future trainings in the colleges.”
With such capacity building trainings, Prof. Kikooma said that the university is on the right path to achieving its targets in the new strategic plan of increasing the number of graduate students while progressively reducing the under graduate students.
He further hinted that, “We are in the process of writing a curriculum on this, which will be presented for approval before it is rolled out.”
He echoed all participants to share the knowledge they have acquired adding, “Share all you have learnt, do not keep it. Be open minded, have proper communication channels and the sky will be the limit for you.”
Dr. Robinah N. Kulabako, The Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CEDAT welcomed the training adding, “This training is very pertinent. I have had the opportunity to supervise Masters and PhD students for over 15 years and I must say that the need to be subjected to this training cannot be over emphasized because there is need to learn, unlearn and relearn many aspects involved in the supervision process.”
She added, “We are moving towards knowledge-based supervision rather than experience-based supervision. This means we must be informed and equipped to be able to advise, guide and mentor to be able to lead a successful supervision journey for both supervisor and supervisee.”
Dr. Andrew Gilbert Were – a lecturer at CEDAT and a participant said, “It is important that all supervisors of graduate students receive this certification from Makerere University through a systematic training process that enables them to attain diverse skills to facilitate learning of graduate students from diverse cultures and with unique set of circumstances.”
“This training is long overdue. In fact, it was an oversight that we could be allowed to supervise students without undergoing supervisors’ training.”
Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa, The Director Centre for Teaching and Learning support- CEES said, “The training this time round has had a mix of early career professionals including Lecturers, Supervisors and Professors share experiences. We have learnt a lot more from experienced supervisors who have shared practices on how they have done supervision over the years.”
“The knowledge and experience-based approaches have made this collaboration very active, interactive and learner centered which has resulted into a collaborative learning from the interdisciplinarity of staff from CEDAT and CAES. The issue now is to continue with professional development across all levels.” She added.
The Makerere University Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors. This activity was supported by the iCARTA – Institutionalization of Advanced Research Training in Africa, a NORHED II Project at Makerere University.
R-L: Arch. Kenneth Ssemwogerere (Head of Department, Architecture), Dr. Kizito Maria Kasule (Deputy Principal, CEDAT), and Mr. Kayongo Daniel (Plascon Uganda National Sales Manager) during the official handover of a donation at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), Makerere University, on Tuesday, 25th June 2025.
The Department of Architecture at Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Design, Art, and Technology (CEDAT) is set to begin a significant refurbishment of its design studios starting 1st July 2025. This initiative marks a pivotal step in enhancing the learning environment for architecture students and fostering innovation in design education.
The refurbishment project has received a significant boost from Kansai Placon Uganda Limited, which donated UGX 15 million worth of paint to support the transformation. This contribution highlights the growing partnership between academia and industry in shaping the future of architectural education in Uganda.
First Year students (Freshers) are by tradition given an “acclimatization” period of one week which is referred to as the “Orientation Week”. The Freshers report on Campus one week earlier than the Continuing students and during this week they are introduced to the key facilities as well as other important aspects of life at the University.
Schedule of Semesters for 2025/2026 Academic Year
Saturday 2nd August, 2025 to Friday 8th August 2025 (7 Days) – Orientation Week
Semester One Saturday 9th August, 2025 to Saturday 6th December, 2025 (17 Weeks)
Semester Two Saturday 17th January, 2026 to Friday 16th May, 2026 (17 Weeks)
During the Orientation week, arrangements are made to enable the Freshers meet and be addressed by Key Officers, Wardens and Student Leaders who welcome the students.
Arrangements are also made to enable the Freshers acquaint themselves with such key facilities at the University like the Library, University Hospital, Games and Recreation Facilities etc.
Freshers are expected to take advantage of the week to survey and acquaint themselves with the general Campus lay out. Another major activity during the Orientation Week is Registration.
All Freshers must ensure that they are registered with their respective Colleges/Schools/Departments/Halls/University Hospital.
Saturday 2nd August, 2025 Resident Freshers report to their respective halls of residence or private hostels by 5.00 p.m. It’s the responsibility of each student to make his/her own travel arrangements to the University or private hostel.
Monday 4th August, 2025 All freshers shall report to the Freedom Square for a meeting (Central orientation program) with the University officials at 9:00am.
College Orientation Tuesday 5th – Friday 8th August, 2025 College orientation programs will follow during the orientation week. College Principals and Registrars will issue the orientation programs for their colleges.
Lectures will begin on Monday 11th August, 2025.
Registration
For a candidate to be considered a bonafide student of the University, he/she must be registered. Registration is a mandatory requirement of the University which must be done within the first two (2) weeks from the beginning of the semester by every student. Privately sponsored students will pick their original admission letters after payment of 60% tuition and all functional fees from their respective colleges.
Registration will commence on Monday 11th August, 2025 starting at 9.00 a.m. each day at the respective Schools.
Ensure that you complete all the required registration formalities within the prescribed time in order to avoid disappointments later. College/School Registrars will provide registration programs.
Registration Requirements
Admission to Makerere University is a provisional offer made on the basis of the statement of your qualifications as presented on your application form. The offer is subject to verification of your academic documents and payment of university fees.
For registration purposes, all first-year students MUST produce their original documents for verification.
Government sponsored students shall pay shs.163,154/= functional fees to Makerere University.
Privately sponsored students shall pay 839,954/= and 1,495,253/= for Ugandans and International candidates respectively for semester one and 132,250/= for semester two of year 1.
Full admission letters for government sponsored students should be picked from the respective Colleges/Schools beginning Monday 7th July 2025.
The fees structure for privately sponsored students is attached to their provisional admission letters that should be down loaded from their ACMIS portal.
Students in the affiliated Institutions should pay fees indicated by their respective Institutions.
Fresher’s joining instructions concerning reporting, fees payment, academic policies and any important information from the different university units can be viewed from the Academic Registrar’s Department notice boards and University websites www.ar.mak.ac.ug and www.mak.ac.ug respectively.
All freshers MUST have laptop computers as one of the essential tools for study purposes for their programmes.
Other Fees a) National Council for Higher Education fee (Per Year)-Shs.20,000/= (Payable to the National Council for Higher Education Account in Stanbic Bank). b) UNSA Subscription fee (per year)-Shs.2,000/= (payable to Stanbic Bank, City Branch, A/C 0140007248501).
Change of Programmes/ Subjects
(a) Change of Programmes Since selection for specific programmes was made according to each candidate’s performance and order of programme choices, taking into account the available subject combinations and time-table limitations, there is normally little need to change the programme or subjects. However, some places become vacant when some of the students admitted do not take up the offers. Such places are filled through the change of programmes/subjects.
Students who wish to change programmes first of all register according to the registration time-table for the programmes and subjects (where applicable) to which originally have been admitted. Each student who may wish to change his/her programme/subject combination is required to pay an application fee of Shs.6,000/= plus the bank charges to banks used by Uganda Revenue Authority.
(b) Change of Subjects Students in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Natural Sciences or the College of Education and External Studies may wish to change their subjects.
Students should be aware that changing one subject may result in a change of College. Before students apply to change their programmes, Colleges and Subjects, they are encouraged to seek advice on the cut-off point(s) for programmes, requirements for specific subjects and possible subject combinations.
Change of programme/Subjects will be done online on payment of an application fee of Shs. Six thousand (6000/=) plus the bank charges to banks used by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
Students are notified and warned that change of programme or transferring to another subject combination or College without proper authority will be liable to discontinuation from the University.
A student who has been permitted to change his/her programme or subject(s) will be issued with a letter stating so, and on receipt of such a letter that student should complete the ACCEPTANCE part and return a copy of each to the Undergraduate Admissions and Records Office, the former College/School and the new College/School.
The change of programme/subjects will be done online from Monday 4th August, 2025 to Tuesday 12th August, 2025.
N.B: It is advisable that only those students who meet the cut-off points for the desired programmes /subjects may apply.