Makerere University

Makerere University
The Main Administration block for Makerere University, normally called the Main Building.
Motto"We build for the future"
TypePublic
Established1970; 54 years ago (1970)
ChancellorEzra Suruma
Vice-ChancellorBarnabas Nawangwe
Administrative staff
3,174 (2018)
Students35,000+ (2018)
Location,
00°20′06″N 32°34′03″E / 0.33500°N 32.56750°E / 0.33500; 32.56750
CampusUrban, 300 acres
Websitewww.mak.ac.ug
Makerere University is located in Kampala
Makerere University
Location in Kampala

Makerere University (/məˈkɛrəri/; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates. The main administrative block was gutted by fire in September 2020 and the cause of the fire is yet to be established.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Makerere University as the eighth best university in Africa and the 569th best university worldwide. In the 2020 U.S. News & World Report ranking, Makerere is the highest-ranked university in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2016 ranked it as the fourth best university in Africa.

Makerere University is the alma mater of many post-independence African leaders, including Ugandan president Milton Obote and Tanzanian presidents Julius Nyerere and Benjamin Mkapa. The former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, and former Kenyan president the late Mwai Kibaki are also Makerere alumni.

In the years immediately after Uganda's independence, Makerere University was a focal point for the literary activity that was central to African nationalist culture. Many prominent writers, including Nuruddin Farah, Ali Mazrui, David Rubadiri, Okello Oculi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, John Ruganda, Paul Theroux, Nobel Prize laureate V. S. Naipaul, and Peter Nazareth, were at Makerere University at one point in their writing and academic careers.

Because of student unrest and faculty disenchantment, the university was closed three times between 2006 and 2016. The final time was on 1 November 2016 when President Yoweri Museveni declared it closed indefinitely. The university was reopened in January 2017.

History

Department of Chemistry, CONAS 2018; Taken by: Gyagenda Marvin Paul
Faculty of Information Technology Building, Makerere University

Founding of the technical school

The trade school that became Makerere University began operating in 1921 with the first classes in carpentry, building construction and mechanics. In 1922 it was founded as the "Uganda Technical College" with additional courses in the arts, education, agriculture and medicine. That same year it was again renamed as Makerere College. In 1928, the vocational classes were separated from the college and renamed Kampala Technical School. In 1937 the college began offering post-secondary education certificate courses.

University

In 1943, the British Protectorate government proposed the university, which led to a controversial struggle. It was described as "a plot to steal African soil for European settlement," by the Bataka Party. In response to this campaign, there was rioting in the capital of Kampala.

In 1949 Makerere College was granted university status and its name became Makerere College, University of East Africa. In the same year, the Bataka Party had been banned by the British Protectorate government, because of acts of riot and arson committed after a Bataka protest gathering.

Unrest in the 2000s

The university was closed three times between 2006 and 2016.

Beginning on 1 August 2016, the non-teaching staff went on strike demanding their back pay. The strike lasted three weeks and the government agreed to pay them by the end of October; however, the government failed to do so. This was but one more broken promise in the cycle of failed promises, strikes and more promises. That strike was followed by a strike of the lecturers over unpaid incentive pay, and that strike was joined by students in solidarity. This led to President Yoweri Museveni closing the university "indefinitely". Additional protests, including from parents whose children were left hanging in mid-semester, led to Museveni appointing a special commission to try to rectify the situation but with no promises of reopening. The commission's report was due in late February 2017.

On the 20th of September, 2020, the main building of Makerere University (the Ivory Tower) was severely damaged by fire, allegedly following a probe by Uganda Parliament into financial mismanagement by university authorities.

100 Years Anniversary

Makerere University's first administrative building

In 2022, the university celebrated its centenary since its establishment as Makerere College in 1922. The institution was granted additional land for expansion into a university by Nsibirwa, a former Prime Minister of the Buganda Kingdom, in 1945. Despite facing numerous challenges in Uganda's political, social, and academic history, the institution has persevered for a century.

On October 7, 2022, a ceremony commemorating the centenary was held at Freedom Square, with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in attendance. A statue monument was unveiled at the entrance of the university's Freedom Square to mark this significant milestone in Uganda's educational sector.

University rankings
Global – Overall
CWUR World923 (2020-2021)
CWTS World1159 (2020)
QS World1001+ (2021)
THE World401–500 (2021)
USNWR Global=631 (2021)
Regional – Overall
THE Africa=5 (2021)
USNWR Africa14 (2021)
National – Overall
CWTS National1 (2020)
CWUR National1 (2020-21)
THE National1 (2021)

Organization

The University Council is the supreme governing body of the university while the Senate is the chief academic organ of the university.

Subcommittees of the University Council

  • Appointments Board
  • Finance, Planning and Administration
  • Quality Assurance, Gender and ICT
  • Estates and Works
  • Staff Development, Welfare and Retirement Benefits
  • Students Affairs and Disciplinary
  • Honorary Awards
  • Audit

Notable former and current faculty administrators

Other academics

Notable alumni

List of Makerere University academics

Political figures and government employees

Film, television and radio

Sports people

Writers and journalists

Scientists

Others

Halls of residence

As of September 2015, the halls of residence at Makerere University included the following:

For men

The Gongom monument at Lumumba Hall
  • Livingstone Hall
  • Lumumba Hall (Defunct 2022)
  • Mitchell Hall
  • Nkrumah Hall
  • Nsibirwa Hall
  • University Hall

For women

  • Africa Hall
  • Mary Stuart Hall
  • Complex Hall

For students of medicine in their final years

  • Galloway House

Postgraduate Hall

  • Dag Hammarskjöld Hostel

Upcountry campuses

In January 2010, the university announced the opening of two new campuses, one in the city of Fort Portal, approximately 310 kilometres (190 mi), by road, west of Kampala, and another one in the city of Jinja, approximately 85 kilometres (53 mi), by road, east of Kampala. The following courses will be offered at the upcountry campuses:

Eastern Campus, Jinja

Replacement of main building

In September 2020 a fire gutted the Main Building of Makerere University, normally called the Main Building, destroying university records and the building structure. A subsequent investigation by an eleven-person team could not establish a definite cause of the fire but pointed to an electric fault as a likely cause.

In August 2021, the Cabinet of Uganda resolved to break down what remained of the Main Building after the fire. A new building, which will be designed to look like the original structure, will be erected at the same location, at a budgeted cost of UGX:21 billion (approx. US$6 million).

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to Excel Construction Company Limited. a Ugandan company and a subsidiary of the Madhvani Group. The reconstruction process began in April 2022, starting with tearing down the structurally unsound original building, built in the 1930s and commissioned in 1941.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-01-21 08:33 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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