By Nicole Nankya and Agatha N. Biira
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and Uganda Christian University (UCU) have come together to operationalize their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in April 2022. The MOU is aimed at promoting quality standards in institutions of higher learning.
The Deputy Executive Director of UNBS, Andrew Othieno, asserted that operationalizing the memorandum means that the bureau is extending a hand to academic institutions. By doing so, they will be helping to train students and grow their employee capacity at the bureau.
“It is also an opportunity to provide exposure for the students to the field,” he said.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor in Charge of Academics at UCU, Dr. John Kitayimbwa, noted the partnership is in sync with UCU’s theme, “A complete education for a complete person.” “As a university, we are reviewing our curriculums so that students can spend half of their study time in the field too.” “We aspire to fully equip our students with not only classroom knowledge but other skills and documents that will help them once they graduate,” he said.
The faculty of Agricultural Sciences will be the first beneficiaries of this partnership. The dean of the faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Elizabeth Bulyaba, said, “We are excited to have this partnership because it is going to promote staff exchange between the two institutions.” “This will help our students since they will have teachers both in class and on the field,” she said.
She further noted that they have finished designing the new curriculum that includes a course unit on standards as a foundation study that has been approved by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). “We are going to share the new course unit with the UNBS staff so that they can analyze it as experts,” she added.
Kitayimbwa requested that the course unit be added as a prerequisite for all students.The Director of Research, Partnerships, and Innovations, Prof. Elizabeth Kizito, noted that since the management is planning to make it a course unit for all students in the university, all deans from the different schools shall be engaged.
