By Israel Kisakye
Performance metrics and rankings seem to be the new gold standard for higher institutions of learning. The statistics in the metrics and rankings determine how many students and how much funding a university attracts. With this awareness, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) Directorate of Research, Partnership and Innovation held a strategic planning workshop for staff.
The mid-August workshop that brought together directors, deans and heads of departments from different schools and faculties aimed at fostering appreciation and development of research.
The UCU Director of Research, Partnership and Innovation, Prof. Elizabeth Kizito, said the workshop made it easier for her docket to play the key role in discussing issues of resource mobilization, research grant management and seeking partnerships and collaborations.
“The directorate is a service center for the university,” she explained, adding, “if we don’t have a goal, we shall fizzle out at some point. We have to develop our research goals, what we want to attain and how we want it.”
Kizito noted that to improve research in the institution, the directorate has to go to the grassroots by engaging the university’s schools and faculties to come up with a clear research plan.
The workshop follows close on the heels of a special training launched in May, to skill graduate students to be able to produce publication-worthy research. At the launch of the training in May, the head of research training in post graduate studies at UCU, Dr. Joseph Owor, noted that the seminars will cover both the main campus and the constituent colleges. Academic staff from all the faculties are expected to attend the trainings that are conducted every Wednesday, starting the second week of every semester, for five weeks.
Kizito believes that if energy is expended on research, UCU will get better in the area, as well as improve their position in the continental rankings of universities.
For the August workshop, Gerald Den Ouden, a Belgium trainer and consultant in research and strategic planning, was the facilitator. Ouden has assisted with over 80 research projects in Africa.
“In order to effectively and efficiently implement a plan, all individuals involved must function as a whole or else the plan is destined to fail,” Ouden said, reiterating that research teams need to work as a collective body.
He noted that during strategic planning, every unit within the organization which is involved in research must agree with the plan, its direction and, therefore, implement the specific actions.
Ouden provided new strategic planning tips to different schools and faculty participants, noting that all strategic plans must be flexible and practical.
Expressing gratitude for Ouden’s presentation, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Assoc. Prof. John Kitayimbwa, described it as a student-centered learning approach.
Kitayimbwa encouraged the different schools and faculties to emphasize the same approach to the students.
He said UCU exists to groom students and impact communities. “A good university exists because of research. It is one of our core values…Without research, we can’t have any impact.”
David Bukenya, the UCU librarian, pledged to support researchers at the university to achieve their goals. He said the training had enabled them to further understand the needs of the different faculties, and where they need to give support in both teaching and research.
