Our goal is to graduate 200 PhDs per year, says Makerere VC Prof Nawangwe

Makerere University will, in the course of this week, confer degrees and diplomas upon a total of 12,913 graduands during the 74th graduation ceremony which kicked off on Monday at Freedom Square.

“Of these, a total of 132 graduands will graduate with PhDs, 1585 with Masters degrees, 11,016 with Bachelor’s degrees, 156 with postgraduate diplomas, and 24 with undergraduate diplomas,” said Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe.

“53% of the graduands are female and 47% are male. In the category of PhD graduands, 46 are female and 86 are male. In the category of students graduating with Master’s degrees, 699 are female and 886 are male. Our goal is to graduate at least 200 PhDs per year in response to the World Bank call of at least 100,000 PhDs for Africa over the next 10 years, in order to pull our continent out of poverty,” he added.

According to Prof Nawangwe, it is the university’s tradition at every graduation to recognize the best-performing undergraduate students in the humanities and the sciences.

At this graduation ceremony, the best performing undergraduate students in the humanities are Tusubira Silas Wamala with a Bachelor of Chinese and Asian Studies and Atukunda Kevin with a Bachelor of International Business, who tied with a CGPA of 4.84 out of 5.0.

The best-performing undergraduate student in the sciences is Ruhweza Charles Godfrey, who obtained a CGPA of 4.8 out of 5.0 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. These students will receive awards from convocation.

On the first day, Hon. Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, a distinguished alumnus of Makerere University and Chief Justice of Uganda, presented an award of academic excellence to Ms. Abonga Delish, a MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program scholar, who earned a First Class Honours with a CGPA 4.44.

“The opportunity for our outstanding Scholars, who have achieved First Class degrees, to be hosted alongside the top 30 students from each college at the #Mak74thGrad is truly appreciated,” the university said on X.

In his speech, Prof Nawangwe applaud the Government of Uganda, parents, guardians, sponsors, development partners and friends for the enormous financial and moral support that you have provided to ensure that the graduands reach this special day.

“May the good Lord continue to bless you for all the sacrifices that you have made to contribute to the success of our students,” he noted.