European Union to fund ICT capacity and policy reforms in Uganda

KAMPALA - The main objective of the ICT- 4MRPQ project is to strengthen Uganda’s Higher Education Institutions(HEIs) capacity to use ICT in Masters’ research journey quality management processes and devise Policy reforms for relevant high quality research outputs.

Rationale:

The ICT-4MRPQ project will strengthen quality and relevance of masters’ students research at Uganda’s HEIs through improved regulative/policy mandate of Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education(NCHE) and integration of ICT usage into managing the students’ research journey. That is, student enrolment into the research project, research idea generation, supervisor allocation, supervision records management, up to post assessment/ viva-voce. Additionally, the call emphasized a need for Green deal(that is moving towards zero carbon and environmental responsibility).

In this context, the project will contribute to this by using ICT/technology (E-Supervision, Mobile App, and Virtual meetings to reduce carbon dioxide from physical transport movements) to close masters’ research quality gaps, which include:

(i) student-supervisor interaction records management,

(ii) redundancies in supervisor-student skills transfer,

(iii) research time redundancy, and

(iv) transparency in a viva-voce conduct. Of specific interest, the project will stimulate and guide masters’ research engagements in neglected yet relevant to Uganda’s – Green deal and national development priorities which are less researched. Examples of neglected areas include innovations into green transition, climate change and sustainable energy, circular economy, among others. Benchmarking and utilization of partners from other European HEIs potentially helps in addressing this.

Key project Activities:

(1) Project Inception, Coordination and Management
(2) Stakeholder Mapping, Profiling and Engagement
(3) National Research and university policy Reviews
(4) Developing Research Methods Manuals for Staff and students
(5) Developing an E-Supervision platform
(6) Development of a Connecting mobile App
(7) Compiling a Compendium of Nationally relevant research Priorities
(8) Staff Learning mobility and Capacity Building
(9) Dissemination

Beneficiaries:

5 universities (3 from Uganda-Makerere University Business School(MUBS), Makerere University, and Mbarara University of Science and Technology(MUST); 1 Portugal-Ulisboa; 1 Netherlands-VU, Amsterdam). Uganda HEIs counterparts will benefit from demonstrated increased knowledge, mobility and adoption of new technologies while the European partners will benefit from knowledge and internalization. At least 700 staff and 1,500 students inter-connected on a NCHE approved Research E-Supervision Platform; 800 masters students conduct timely research; 500 supervisors and 100 administrative staff improve their work efficiency and interaction with students; 300 internal and 200 external examiners conduct timely assessment of research reports and viva-voce; NCHE with moderate level of interest will enhance capacity and accreditation; 2 employers(Kyazze, Kankaka and Co. Advocates and UCCSRI Ltd) will upgrade their sustainable development data tracking skills.

Key outputs:

(1) A revised national master research policy framework.
(2) NCHE approved E-Supervision Platform.
(3) A Mobile App. Connecting the participating universities.

Short term Results:

Timely graduation of students; Reduced supervision inconsistencies; relevant research outputs and Reliable student research assessment processes. HEIs: Increased Capacity and knowledge of using ICT in research processes management and Real-time tracking of masters’ student progress and research data.

Students: Timely research conduct and behaviour; acquisition of relevant analytical skills and content.
Supervisors: keep proper student-interaction records, pass on appropriate research skills and content.
Examiners: set dedicated research goals and objectives for research assessments.
Long term results: Enhanced research capacity; increased stock of relevant and high-quality research; Employable graduates.