6 Institutionalising the TM at Makerere University
Building on the discussion in Chapter 5, this chapter discusses and analyses the findings regarding the institutionalisation of the TM at MUK, specifically, the organisation of the TM, the institutional commitment of the university to the TM, the approaches utilised to institutionalise the TM, the benefits of the TM and the challenges to the deeper institutionalisation of the TM at the university.
2. Establish a national policy guidance project and think tanks to analyse existing policies;
3. Establish a technology innovation and transfer programme to promote the formation of technology parks and technology and business incubation centres and to assist small and medium enterprises in start-up and development; and
4. Promote student field attachments and internships. (Nabudere, 2009, p. 24.)
Uganda Gatsby Trust (UGT)
UGT is an NGO based at CEDAT. It was founded in 1994 with seed funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (GCF) to support and enhance the competitiveness of small manufacturing and value-adding businesses with the potential to grow by facilitating their accessibility to expertise, productive capacity, finance and markets. Accordingly, the strategic objectives of the Trust are to
(a) Develop a network of micro-enterprises linked to CEDAT to increase the quality and value of their output;
(b) Introduce HE students to opportunities available in the small-scale sector and to assist them (students) to develop and to transfer technologies and business development services to assist small-scale enterprises (SSE) to overcome some of their problems and
(c) Enable SSE to access and acquire credit and technology. (see Nabudere, 2009; http://
gatsbyuganda.com/.)
The Trust is governed by a board of trustees composed of members representing different stakeholders in the small-scale sector, and, therefore, it is independent of the college and the university except that the university vice chancellor sits on its board of trustees (Nabudere, 2009). Since its inception, UGT has established business enterprises, such as the Gatsby Demonstration Foundry and the Gatsby Garage; created tailor-made training courses for managers and artisans of small and medium enterprises [SMEs]; and facilitated student attachments to companies for industrial training that have boosted interactions between small and medium entrepreneurs and the staff and students of the college. In fact, the Trust has created over 1,000 student attachments, realised 270 student projects, provided 64 student scholarships, facilitated over 1,500 SSEs, started a microfinance company to deliver microfinance services to SSEs and established tree nurseries in different parts of the country (see http://gatsbyuganda.com/). Currently, UGT focuses on two projects:
1. The UGT Credit Programme, a revolving fund managed by a subsidiary company, Gatsby Microfinance Limited (GMFL), which offers affordable financial services to small and medium-scale enterprises, particularly, Gatsby club members, to enable them to meet their working capital needs and/or to acquire new technologies; and 2. The Gatsby Clubs Tree Project, a joint programme with the National Forestry
Research Institute that was started in 2006 to improve tree productivity by
integrating biotechnology techniques in traditional propagation systems with three aims: to generate income for UGT club members, to cater for the domestic needs for wood and timber and (c) to create a sustainable tree-planting scheme. (see Nabudere, 2009; http://gatsbyuganda.com/.)
Food Technology and Business Incubation Centre (FTBIC)
The FTBIC is a university-owned technology and business incubator established in 2009 at the CAES, with financial support from the Presidential Initiative on Science and Technology,59 to create new food value-addition business enterprises out of research conducted at MUK and to facilitate the university’s production of job creators (MUK, 2012c). The mission of the FTBIC is to “nurture and sustain new and existing food and allied business by providing innovative research, practical solutions, linkages, entrepreneurship development and outreach leading to wealth creation and nutritional enhancement” (see http://ftbic.mak.ac.ug/).
Accordingly, the centre offers the following services: comprehensive laboratory analysis and evaluation of food products; training, particularly in food production, marketing and management, to prospective entrepreneurs and SMEs; commissioned research; technical support, mainly in product development and refinement, to the food industry; technology transfers; development of knowledge-based food and food-processing enterprises; and the nurturing of entrepreneurship among staff and students (Kruss et al., 2009; MUK, 2012c;
Nabudere, 2009). In fact, by 2012, 11 agro-processing enterprises (e.g., Dawn Industries, Smart Foods, Hamko), producing bottled pineapple juice, soya bean products, sausages, smoked meat and canned maize, among other products, had been established by incubation clients—mostly fresh university graduates (MUK, 2012c, p. 8).
The National Software Incubation Centre (NSIC)
The NSIC was established at the College of Computing and Information Sciences in 2008 to train fresh university graduates and/or third-year university students, in, for instance, computer science, software engineering and information technology, to equip them with the requisite skills to develop software solutions. The aim of the centre is to provide newly graduated software engineers and/or university students an opportunity to develop and to nurture projects using the centre’s facilities for one year and in special cases, two years, so that they can ably employ themselves. The students are organised into groups and assigned
59 A development initiative that is funded by the office of the president of Uganda to enhance the development of science and research in the country. The initiative is implemented in partnership with various bodies and research stations—for example, the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, the National Council for Science and Technology and the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, MUK (see http://www.statehouse.go.ug/presidential-initiatives/science-and-technology).
mentors who work with them on specific projects in partnership with industrial partners.
The aim of this arrangement is to enable both the students and the industrial partners to engage with, and to benefit from, each other (http://cit.mak.ac.ug/nsic/index. php).
Technology Development and Transfer Centre (TDTC)
The TDTC was established in 2002 in the then Faculty of Technology to develop, apply and transfer innovative technology and research; to create partnerships between the faculty and external communities; and to support socioeconomic development. Its aims are to create capacity at MUK for the development/adoption of intermediate technologies for rural and urban development; to spearhead applied research and commercialisation of research output and development of spin-off companies; to assess and transfer technologies;
to develop a national human resource base for technology transfer; and to contribute to the alleviation of poverty (see Nabudere, 2009; http://tech.mak.ac.ug/research/tdtc/).
The centre focuses on basic needs, such as water supply, housing and rural development.
Accordingly, since 2010, with financial support from the Presidential Innovations Fund,60 the centre has supported the design and construction of solar water heaters and a hybrid solar drier, among other products. The centre also supports third- and fourth-year students, fresh graduates and academic staff to establish and manage self-created innovative projects or businesses. In fact, the centre houses the T4T, which is a spin-off company that manufactures low-cost, easy-to-maintain and environmentally friendly technologies in housing and sanitation (Nabudere, 2009).
Joint National Animal Disease Diagnostic Centre
The Joint National Animal Disease Diagnostic Centre is part of the initiatives by the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-Security (CoVAB) to develop a university-led extension system. The centre was established in 2011 through collaboration between MUK, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to improve the diagnostic infrastructure at the university in particular and in Uganda in general. The centre comprises two epidemiology nodes, one at Entebbe (for the MAAIF) and the other at the CoVAB
60 Targeted funding (UGX 25 billion) from the office of the president of Uganda that supports innovative projects on—for example, low-cost irrigation, innovation systems and cluster formation, technology development and transfer, vehicle design, etc.—at CEDAT. The initiative was created in 2010 and covers five years. Its goal is to enhance the development of human resources, the exchange of technologies between HEIs and communities, the generation of knowledge and the relevance of the college (http://cedat.mak.ac.ug/
research/presidential-initiative-project.html).
(for MUK). The centre aims to strengthen the relationship between the university and the government through collaborative efforts to enhance the national capacity for diagnosing animal diseases. The initial stage of developing and strengthening the diagnostic system has been carried out in pilot districts. The process involved partnerships among academia, communities and public and private sectors and focused on improving the capacity of selected district veterinary officers in areas such as primary diagnosis and sample preparation, meat inspection, post-mortem examination and sampling, blood and faecal examinations and screening tests for diseases (see http://covab.mak.ac.ug/home.html).
Centre for Language and Communication Services (CLCS)
The CLCS is a semi-autonomous consultancy and CE unit at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS); it specialises in language training and language-related services. The centre offers short certificate non-credit-bearing courses in English, French and other languages; translation, interpretation, editing and proofreading services; teaching and training courses in communication skills, listening, speaking and reading and writing capability; and English proficiency tests for admission to universities outside Uganda.
Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL)
The CLL is an extramural centre at the College of Education and External Studies (CEES).
The CLL was created in 2011 as part of the university-wide reforms to take the University to the communities and to bring the communities to the University through flexible non- formal lifelong learning/educational programmes. The centre provides short, non-credit, multidisciplinary extramural training programmes and other non-academic interventions on request by external communities. For instance, upon request, the centre designs and delivers bespoke short training programmes on issues, such as the Local Government Act, leadership and management, planning and decision-making, for district councillors.
Accordingly, all the training programmes run by the centre are extramural in nature and are demand-driven—that is, they are offered at off-campus locations and are based on the expressed needs of the trainees.
The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC)
The HURIPEC is a semi-autonomous department under the school of law. It was established in 1993 to foster teaching, research and activism for human rights and peace issues at the university with a vision to contribute to the establishment of an educated and active academic society with an in-depth understanding of human rights. The centre pursues and consistently engages in events aimed at promoting public understanding of and
respect for human rights, democratic governance and sustainable peace in East Africa in particular and Africa in general. Therefore, besides providing several academic courses that are intended for university students, the centre runs short courses (summer schools that focus on issues such as human rights, good governance and democratisation) that target government officials, NGOs, lawyers and academics from East Africa. The centre also often organises a series of dialogues about major constitutional developments in Uganda in particular and Africa in general. It also conducts interdisciplinary research on issues, such as information and communication technologies and governance and their relationship with human rights (see http://huripec.mak.ac.ug/).
Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC)
The CHDC is a multidisciplinary research and training centre at the College of Health Sciences (CHS). It was founded in 1989 to promote an all-inclusive response to children and women’s health needs, with an underlying philosophy that these needs go beyond biomedicine; they include complexities related to families, communities, institutions of care and public policies. Accordingly, the centre focuses on five core areas: multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral experiential research and training, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, operational research with government and development partners and collaborations with communities and government to develop and evaluate community-based health strategies.
Thus, the activities and programmes of the centre focus on university students and staff, health providers and practitioners, social workers, health educators and workers from health-related NGOs to enable the participants to gain knowledge and competence in population health-related matters using a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach (see http://www.chdc.mak.ac.ug/).
Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR)
The MISR is a multidisciplinary research and teaching institute that was founded in 1948 as the East African Institute of Social and Economic Research. The aim of the institute is to improve academic knowledge, to inform public policy and to contribute to economic and social development. As part of its mission to respond to societal needs through professional research, publication, training and outreach activities, the institute runs an interdisciplinary postgraduate degree programme in social studies and conducts multidisciplinary research on governance and civil society, health, education, sexuality, environment and natural resources, migration, gender and development and economic policies, among other issues.
The institute also organises numerous public lectures and panel discussions about various topical issues (see http://misr.mak.ac.ug/about-misr).
The organisational structures described above demonstrate the extent to which MUK has gone to institutionalise the TM and to make it an integral part of its organisational structure. However, it is worth noting that the existence of organisational structures does not necessarily mean that all interactions between the university and external communities are (and/or should be) initiated or sanctioned by such specialised units; academic units (e.g., departments) as well as individual (or groups of) staff and students are involved, and encouraged to participate, in TM activities.