Roundtable discussion 2

Title: 100 years of teacher education at Makerere University

Moderator

Prof Bisaso

Ronald Bisaso is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Deputy Principal at the College of Education and External Studies at Makerere University. He holds a PhD in Administrative Science, specialising in Higher Education Management from the University of Tampere in Finland, an MSc in Educational and Training Systems Design from the University of Twente in The Netherlands and a BA in Education from Makerere University. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Global Challenge in Higher Education and Research (GHEAR), and a member of the International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA)’s International Advisory Board. 

Discussants

Prof Mulumba

Dr Mulumba Bwanika Mathias is an Associate Professor and Dean of the School of Education at the College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University. He is a teacher educator with 25 years’ experience in higher education institutions. His research interests include teacher education, language education, and educational planning and management.

Prof Sehoole

Prof Chika Sehoole is a professor of higher education and the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in December 2002. His scholarship has been acknowledged and recognised through the Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Fulbright fellowships, which he has been awarded during his academic career. His research interests are in the fields of higher education policy, the internationalisation of higher education, higher education in Africa and the globalisation of higher education. He has served in several international research projects focusing on higher education, where he provided expertise from the South African and African perspective. He served as Chairperson of the Board of the African Network for Internationalisation of Education (ANIE) from 2013 to 2017 and is currently serving on its board. He also serves as Chairperson of the Education Deans’ Forum of South Africa. He has authored one book, edited three scholarly books on higher education and has published more than 40 journal articles, book chapters and articles in the popular media.

Prof Aguti

Jessica Norah Aguti is a professor of open, distance and e-learning in the Faculty of Science and Education at Busitema University in Uganda. She is a former Director of the Institute of Open, Distance and E-learning at Makerere University, and worked at the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in Vancouver, Canada, as an education specialist in teacher education for three years.  She joined academia in 1990 as a lecturer in the nascent Distance Education Unit, and has participated in the growth and development of open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) in universities, in Uganda and in the region. She has vast experience in designing programmes and training academics in ODeL pedagogy, and has been involved in research and the evaluation of ODeL programmes.   

Dr Okou

Dr Jane Egau Okou is a teacher by profession, who has grown through the ranks to become Director of Education responsible for Higher Education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda. Before being promoted to Director, she was the Commissioner responsible for the training and development of teachers, tutors and instructors at all levels of Uganda’s education system. She holds a PhD in Workforce Education and Development from Pennsylvania State University USA, master’s and bachelors’ degrees in Education from Makerere University, as well as several postgraduate diplomas and certificates in education leadership and management. She has over 35 years’ experience in education, where she has led several initiatives during her career, and serves on several important national and international education committees. Her tenure of leadership as Commissioner for Teacher Education was full of innovations. Among many significant achievements, she led the struggle to reform Uganda’s teacher education and training system, resulting in the first-ever comprehensive National Teacher Policy for Uganda, which was approved by the Government of Uganda in 2019.  In her current role, she continues to oversee the implementation of the reforms ushered in by the National Teacher Policy.

Dr Ezati

Dr Betty Akullu Ezati is a teacher educator. She holds a PhD in Education and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education Policy Studies and Educational Technology. She is the immediate former Dean of the School of Education at Makerere University and currently chairs the task force assigned to set up the Uganda National Institute of Teacher Education as a degree-awarding institution. Dr Ezati is a facilitator in the Pedagogical Leadership Programme, focusing on online course design, facilitation and assessment, as well as training on doctoral supervision for university academic staff. She has undertaken several research projects and has participated in various international, national and institutional education-related consultancies. She has published widely in a number of internationally refereed journals.