Ugandan universities have been urged to enter into collaborations with foreign academic institutions to spur both knowledge and skills transfer.

Dr Varghese Mundamattam, the chairman of the board of directors at ISBAT University, said this is one of the ways of delivering “meaningful education to the citizenry who will be productive and useful to their respective countries”.

He made the comments after signing a memorandum of collaboration with Somaville University in Somalia to cooperate in a number of areas, such as research, curriculum development, technology transfer and capacity building.

Dr Abdi Nor Sheikh Ahmed signed on behalf of Somaville at a ceremony that was overseen by the Embassy of Somalia in Uganda and the education ministry last Wednesday.

The embassy delegation was led by Liban Hussein Derow, the education attaché in Somalia’s embassy in Uganda, while the education ministry was represented by Timothy Musoke Sejjoba, the assistant commissioner for public universities.

According to Mundamattam, the deal provides for more areas of partnership, including sharing of learning resources and faculty exchanges (of both students and lecturers) for mostly graduate programmes.

Some of these include management and cloud computing, master’s in internet of things, master’s in mobile and web computing and master’s in software engineering.

Mundamattam said teaching will be “on a hybrid platform in a blended learning model (both physical class attendance and online).”

He said this is especially benefi cial for Somali students because they do not need to travel to Uganda to study.

Mundamattam pledged to use the partnership to tackle unemployment in the two countries, through delivery of an “effective education that meets the needs of the world of work”.

He said focus will be placed on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as well as business studies.

“This means the graduates we churn out are able to fi nd jobs because we focus on the objectives of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (ICT) and also the objectives of the National Development Plan III of this country (Uganda), which is in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations,” Mundamattam said.

“We have seen that more than 75% of the population in Uganda and Somalia are youths who are below the age of 30 years. If these youth are not developed properly, they turn their attention to unlawful activities,” he said.

Musoke hailed the partnership, saying it has potential to open “doors for other universities” and promote bilateral relations between Somalia and Uganda.

Derow revealed that while many Somalis would love to come to Uganda, many are constrained by the lack of funds.

“I am excited because our students who do not have money to come here can still get a quality education through this collaboration,” he said.

Uganda boasts of being a hub of formal education, given the high infl ux of foreign students from the regions.

There are currently 32 universities in Uganda, all accounting for a student population of about 110,000 and turning out over 30,000 graduates annually.

According to a recent report by the British Council in Uganda, the country enjoys a comparative advantage in East Africa due to a good curriculum, lower tuition and student maintenance costs, as well as English being the main language of instruction.

Photo caption: The vice-chancellor of ISBAT University, Prof. K.M. Matthew, academic registrar Dr Paul Giju, Mundamattom, Dr Abdi Nor Sheikh Ahmed and Derow during the signing of the memorandum of collaboration at ISBAT university on Wednesday. Courtesy photo