Innovating University Education

Makerere University started in 1922 as a humble
technical school enrolling 14 day students of Carpentry, Building and
Mechanics. Nine decades later, the University has made giant
strides–enrolling over 35,000 students in over 145 study programmes
hosted by nine colleges spread across various campuses. As one of the
first higher education institutions in East and Central Africa, the
university has had to contend with a multiplicity of issues, including
relevance, curricula reform, community engagement and graduate
employability; access, equity, massification and quality assurance;
national politics, regulation, institutional autonomy and academic
freedom; funding and financial management; student politics and
activism; staff unionisation, management and brain drain; physical
resources expansion, utilisation and maintenance; liberalisation,
privatisation, commercialisation and internationalisation; Information
and Communication Technology (ICT); and institutional leadership and
integrity. Today, the University stands out proudly as a hallmark of
innovation and excellence in teaching, research and community
engagement, notwithstanding the challenges it has experienced over the
years.

As it celebrates 90 years, the higher education scholarly and
policy fraternity take the opportunity to honour and continue the
University’s tradition of scholarship and innovation — through
contributing ideas for dealing with some of the challenges that the
University and similar institutions are contending with. Although
studies of Makerere University have been included, it must be understood
that this book is not necessarily about the University. Additional
studies have been drawn from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi,
Nigeria, Tanzania and other institutions in Uganda.