A new generation of African Scientists

Project title: Building and Reflecting on Interdisciplinary MPhil/PhD Studies for Higher Education Transformation

Background

Much of the social research conducted in Africa today is characterized by research questions being posed from outside the continent, and intellectual work within the continent being relegated to providing answers to questions posed by others. This is troubling intellectually because it threatens to undermine further the autonomy of academic production and research in Africa; it is troubling practically because it excludes those who are most affected by the problems facing African societies from a role in framing those problems as research questions, and thus in proposing solutions.

The project

The project will increase the capacity at Makerere University to deliver high quality education, as well as the university’s capacity to deliver relevant and high quality research. The program is founded upon the principle that tomorrow’s researchers and higher education leaders need to be trained in the same conditions in which they work, and that it is only through an interdisciplinary, coursework-based curriculum that new knowledge can encompass the context in which it is produced, and thus provide novel answers to questions that are posed from within Africa.

The project is described as an intellectual one, but one that takes into account the material conditions under which it operates; thus, neither the political economy of higher education and research, nor the particular intellectual history to which higher education and research in Africa is heir, is excluded from the development of the programme.

Key goals and achievements

Overall goal

The project aims to build nationally-relevant social research capacity through the transformation of higher education.

The objectives of the project are

1. To produce more and better qualified graduates relevant to the needs of the country and region
2. To produce more and better research relevant to the region
3. To have in place the appropriate infrastructure, policies and systems to ensure sustainable capacity to educate and research