Background
During the presentation of final year projects for 2016/2017, it was discovered that there were differences in the ways that the examiners were awarding the marks to the students presenting their projects. It was noted that even when the reports are being marked, there are disparities where by students with almost the same work presented in a similar way are awarded different marks by the examiners. It’s against this background that the department decided to hold the research/projects workshop on 24th October 2017 to among other things:
- i) Come up with a uniform way how the project process should be handled
- ii) Train the staff on research and projects
- iii) Encourage staff members to increase the publication output
- iv) Encourage staff members to adopt new teaching methods.
Attendance
The workshop was attended by over forty (40) staff members from the department of electrical and electronic engineering.
Key lessons from the presentations
- It is paramount for academic staff in higher institutions of learning to engage in research. Research needs patience. It takes time for one to have his/her work published in first class journals and therefore one should not give up on the way.
- Research and projects should be in line with the Kyambogo university strategic plan, the national development goals, Uganda Vision 20140 and the UN sustainable development goals. This is when it can be easy to attract funding.
- In order for the roll out of projects to succeed, it’s important to identify the right talent- the bright students who are self-motivated to carry out the research.
- A modern university should be able to do research and disseminate the findings.
- Supervisors should be trained regularly on how to carry out the supervision.
- Lecturers need to adapt new teaching methods.
- There are various challenges of doing research, these include: accessing research funds and grants, capacity to do research, lack of graduate programmes in the university
Way forward
- Regular workshops on research are needed in order to improve the research culture.
- The department will write and deliver proposals for partnership with different organizations and companies including Umeme Uganda, Eskom, MTN, Airtel etc.
- The University website will be updated with links to the articles published by the members of staff
- A meeting with representatives from the industry will be organized at the department.
- Staff members will be grouped according to areas of specialization and they will be able to come up with projects.
- A faculty/ department magazine will be created to showcase what is done in the faculty.
- The faculty to form an industrial liaison officer to contact industries and solicit for funds especially strengthening collaboration with industries
- To start a research day or open day for the faculty to allow public especially industrialists understand what we are doing at KYU
Conclusion
The workshop was a success. It was well attended by over ninety percent of staff members from the department and all the invited facilitators turned up. The workshop gave the department a way forward on the improvement and delivery of research and projects. The members were also motivated to use new teaching methods.
Participants receiving certificates of attendance
Some of the participants receiving certificates from the DVC-AA
By: Niwareeba Roland, Head of Department