Vice Chancellor Forum

I was selected to attend the Vice Chancellor Forum on behalf of Dr. Fr. Maximiano Ngabirano, Vice Chancellor of St. Ignatius University Kabale. The Forum was held in Entebbe, Uganda.

The two day forum, where every higher education institution in Uganda was invited, had about 50 attendees during the event. The first day began with a history of the forum and then went into details for improving higher education in Uganda based upon the National Development Policy that was signed in 2016. It also went into detail, by the leadership of National Council of Higher Education, of what has improved this past year and what must improve in the future. The big areas in need of improvement are undergraduate student enrollment, doctoral programs, types of programs that will improve the quality of life of Ugandians such as technology, engineering, neuroscience, natural energy, and most of all stop the brain drain by increasing wages. Another point of discussion was to develop student entrepreneurial skills to create businesses that can become mid-size to become producers for and by the Ugandan people and reduce the import of goods and services and increase employment.

The second day was focused on strategies of improving the quality of education from primary school to eventually improve the quality and caliber of students that enter higher education institutions. In order to do this task, grant writing at the national and local level is necessary. It is also necessary to form partnerships with international organizations to enhance higher education institutions and search for funding to support students and programs.

Many examples were shared by different universities of partnerships developed with businesses and international higher education institutions for program accreditation and faculty development.

I look forward to the good work that develops from the ideas generated during the forum.

Here is a picture of a few of the leaders of the Forum and National Council of Higher Education.