Kampala – Members of the 6th Governing Council of Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology (UICT) have been inaugurated.
The 17-member-council which will lead the institute for the next three years was inaugurated during a function held on Thursday at the National Innovation Hub in Nakawa, Kampala.
The council comprises various categories of persons that were nominated by different constituencies as per section 77 (2) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001.
Pursuant to the above provisions of the law, the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance forwarded the names of nominated persons for appointment of the UICT Governing Council to Ministry of Education and sports.
The new members of the council include Assoc. Prof. Agnes Rwashana Semwanga, Ms. Barbara Asiimwe, Mr. Patrick Kakeeto, Mr. Amos Mpungu, Mr. Japeth Kawanguzi, Mr. Dean Munene, Mr. John Ochira Pakony, Mr. Ronald Mayambala, Eng. Christine Mugimba, Mr. Moses Mugenyi, Ms. Bako Gloria, Mr. Edson Nkurunungi, Mr. Anthony Muligisa, Ms. Rhoda Christine Nazite, Ms. Jennipher Namugumya, Dr. Irene Nakiyimba and Dr. Fredrick Kitoogo.
Officiating at the inauguration ceremony Dr. Aminah Zawedde the Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT and National Guidance said the new council has a role to drive UICT to be the center of excellence.
“Universities provide degrees in computer science, IT etc but when it comes to special skills that people need on the job, some of these are given by the companies that recruit us, some by government, so UICT is going to be that institution that provides such skills,” said Zawedde
She noted that the Governing Council is going to work with the institution under the guidance of the Ministry of ICT to ensure they put up such programs for people coming out of various universities and tertiary institutions so that they are ready for the job market.
Dr. Fredrick Kitoogo the UICT principal mentioned the biggest achievement of the outgoing governing council as human capital.
“In the 5th Governing Council, they initiated a program for an HR study, to study the human resource needs, remuneration requirements, training needs and that was approved and implemented. The salaries of the staff were a bit low that time, but now, staff are more motivated because of that HR study,” said Dr. Kitoogon who is also a member of both the 5th and 6th Governing Council.
The other achievements include a policy direction that allowed admission of government sponsored students, development of a business unit for the institute, getting a substantive principle, academic registrar and institute secretary among others.
He said COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest challenge faced by the outgoing council. This, he said, was however taken as an opportunity for them to spearhead the implementation of open distance and eLearning.
“The other challenge we got was students not being able to access laboratories and also the exams, but again, it gave us thoughts on how to go about that. So now we are looking at having virtual labs and also online proctoring so that we can do exams online,” added Kitoogo
UICT was established as a public tertiary institution in October 2005, under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act of 2001.
In November 2007, the Education Ministry transferred management of the institution to the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). Consequently, the institution is now under the supervision of the ministry of Information and Communications Technology.
