Uganda university partners with Kansas State on capacity enhancement project

Makerere University's Department of Agribusiness and Natural Resource Economics in Uganda has partnered with Kansas State University's Department of Agricultural Economics on a capacity enhancement project.

Makerere University’s Department of Agribusiness and Natural Resource Economics (DANRE) in Uganda has partnered with Kansas State University’s (KSU) Department of Agricultural Economics on a capacity enhancement project.

With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the specific objectives of the project are (1) to restructure and review the curricula structure of two postgraduate and undergraduate programs, including development of a taught Ph.D. program; (2) strengthen DANRE’s unit for agricultural research and analysis; and (3) up-grade communication and instruction methods available to staff members.

Following a strategy planning workshop in Kampala, Uganda, a one-week visit by DANRE faculty to KSU occurred in August 2017. The visitation arrangement to KSU by DANRE faculty allowed participants to benefit from exposure to a culturally varied and diverse faculty, with an opportunity to exchange ideas and observe a variety of styles and enhances the two universities’ intellectual vibrancy. They toured the Manhattan Campus, met the members of the KSU project team, met the Ugandan students and other students at KSU, visited the Graduate School, met with the research and extension; grants team, met the MAB team, and met individual faculty members to converse on their respective responsibilities.

The DANRE/KSU Project concept was developed in 2011. Virginia Tech did the initial DANRE scoping study in 2014, followed by the DANRE Capacity Building Proposal submitted to USAID in 2015. A four-year project was approved. Michigan State University and the Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program became involved in 2015. BHEARD released an RFA to network universities in 2016. Six applications were received and reviewed, and three were selected for further evaluation. KSU was selected to implement the project.

See the full report on the project below.

MAKERERE_UNIVERSITY_VISITATION_REPORT.PDF

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