Uganda Technology and Management University celebrates 2 years of success

UTAMU @ 2 Years:

Founded in 2012, UTAMU as it is proudly known opened its doors to the first batch of undergraduate students on 1st May 2013 after it was licensed by the National Council for Higher Education to operate as a Private University in Uganda.

Uganda Technology and Management University  (UTAMU) University, the first of its kind to specialize in Technology and Management (T&M) has over the last two years positioned itself as a high quality education and research institution in Technology and Management in the East African region.

UTAMU was established out of the need to bridge the gap of insufficient skills in Management, Science and Technological Innovation currently in Africa and globally, and to address the challenges of graduates who did not meet the requirements of the Science and Management based Industry.

And with the Government realizing higher education as a critical asset for Nation Building and particularly Technology and Management as the most realistic driver to lead this initiative, UTAMU was a welcome idea and has to-date fulfilled and superseded all expectations.

UTAMU’s remarkable achievements and Story bring to the fore, the incredible visionary, forward thinking leadership and guidance by the very experienced and independent 5-member Board of Trustees Chaired by Professor Henk Sol, the founding Chancellor H.E Hon Dr. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and the 9-member Council chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Joseph K Ssewanyana. The significant role played by the Senate and Management led by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba cannot go unrecognized. Despite being a young University, UTAMU boasts of the best Academic and Management Staff in the fields of Technology and Management who together with the visionaries have taken the mantle to see this great University see the light of day and make it what it is today.

So far, UTAMU has doubled its Schools, namely; Graduate School, School of Computing and Engineering, School of Business and Management and School of Professional and Vocational Education. Having started out with only 5 undergraduate programmes, UTAMU today boasts of 32 Programmes accredited by the National Council for Higher Education. These include: 7 Postgraduate diploma, 25 Undergraduate Degrees and 4 Diploma programmes. All these programmes are delivered through a blended learning mode; face-to-face interactions and Electronic learning.

After only 2 years in operation, UTAMU has also scooped a startling rating from Webometrics as the 12th best Higher Education Institution in Uganda and 353rd in Africa (out of 37 and 1307 higher education institutions in Uganda and Africa respectively) beating several of our predecessors that have existed for decades. The criteria used cumulative data, which disfavors young Universities given that research output is measured from the time of a University’s inception and also applies to indicators like collaborations. For UTAMU to make it to 12th position before its 2nd year of operation attests to the strides the University has made and a sign that it is set to make and break records in Higher Education.

The University has also built strategic partnerships both at the National and International level. UTAMU and Saarland University with support from GIZ have started a programme to build capacity in Evaluation in Public and Private sectors in Uganda and the region.

The Institution is also at the forefront of Capacity Development of the Public Service Sector in the Region as demonstrated by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tanzania Public Service College. UTAMU is also supporting capacity building in the Public Service Sector ,in Uganda. Other notable partners include; Petroleum Training Academy, Liaoning Shihua University and Liaoning University in China and Microsoft Corporation among others.

When It comes to innovations, students have developed numerous mobile applications aimed at providing solutions to the challenges faced by communities in various sectors of Education, Health, Agriculture and Security among others. Notable among these is; Myhosplink, which gives access to health information by locating the nearest health centers, services offered in different hospitals, doctor schedules, emergence support and first aid information. Another is Secure Citizen, which helps Police and community track suspected criminals, and “Friend of the Gorilla”, an app envisaged to boost the tourism industry by providing information about Gorilla tracking and Smooth Ride, which provides updates on traffic in Uganda’s major cities among others.

As UTAMU celebrates its 2nd Anniversary on 7th September 2014, its focus continues to be Quality Assurance, having a campus in each of the East African Community (EAC) member states and being the lead University in Technology and &Management in Africa in five (5) years.

It has been an exciting and eventful journey full of great achievements and lessons to build on for the future.