Professor Norman Duncan, Vice-Principal: Academic at the University of Pretoria (UP), and his counterpart at Uganda’s Makerere University Professor Umar Kakumba, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 14 October 2021 to formalise an institutional partnership.

The agreement builds on existing long-standing collaboration between the two institutions. These include the Masters for Information Technology, Collaborative Masters in Agricultural and Applied Economics, Masters in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa through UP’s Centre for Human Rights, and the regional Pan African Masters in Public Infrastructure Management, among other ongoing faculty research projects.

Within the context of UP’s internationalisation and global engagement framework, this agreement aligns with the African Global University Project (AGUP), which serves as the mechanism to develop and manage 20 to 30 key institutional-level strategic partnerships as they relate to the African context.

As one of the leading and most recognised higher education institutions in Africa, Makerere University, which is based in Kampala, has been selected as an AGUP partner on the continent. This strategic relationship with UP will allow the two institutions to share complementary strengths in facilitating teaching and learning that is informed by transdisciplinary research, ultimately leading to transformative impact on the African continent.

“UP’s approach to international collaboration is shifting towards managing partnerships intentionally and collectively, and the formalisation of our relationship with Makerere University is reflective of that intention,” Prof Duncan said.

Prof Kakumba lauded the MoU as a critical institutional framework that was long overdue but which will spur cooperative research projects, innovative teaching and learning, and the promotion of a mutual agenda for a research-intensive culture in the two universities.