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Quartz Media Africa needs another million PhD scientists to develop homegrown solutions (Africa) It’s been a recurring refrain: Africa still lags woefully behind the rest of the world in generating new scientific knowledge. As figures collated by the World Bank in 2014 show, the continent—home to around 16% of the world’s population—produces less than 1% of the world’s research output. These are painful admissions to make, but there are several projects and... Read More 0

By Geoffrey Cheruiyot Ngenoh, MSc. Agri-Enterprise Development student at Egerton University. July 2017 will always be memorable to me. It was during this time that we had the orientation training for new TAGDev scholars and I developed a business mindset. Speaker after speaker during the training, motivated me to start my entrepreneurship journey. By the end of the training I had so many business ideas in mind, but I decided to start... Read More 0

By Drake Patrick Mirembe1, Settumba B. Mukasa2 and Jude T. Lubega3 1School of Computing and Informatics Technology, Makerere University; 2School of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University; 3Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU). Introduction Several households in eastern and northern Uganda depend on cassava as their sole starch staple food and source of income. In the 1990s, cassava production was threatened by the emergency of the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) which led to high... Read More 0

The Eastern Africa Farmers’ Federation in partnership with IFAD is calling on rural youth groups in agriculture and agribusiness related enterprises to submit business proposals for support in accessing: Technical support to develop enterprise ready investment proposals, Agri-business incubation services and mentorship Potential funders/ investors and other partnership opportunities The proposal can be on an existing businesses/start-ups run by youth with a view of creating employment. The business proposal should be on... Read More 0

  By Gad Matayo Sambrumo, MSc Agri-Enterprise Development at Egerton University  I was born in 1993 in Busia County, western Kenya and hold a degree in Agribusiness Management and Enterprise Development from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Currently, I am enrolled for a Master of Science in Agri-Enterprise Development at Egerton University funded by RUFORUM under the TAGDev (Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development)... Read More 0

Makerere University, a partner in the Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL), recently briefed Ugandan parliamentarians on COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3F) Model. This dialogue was organised to address the role of parliamentarians and academia in design and implementation of legislative initiatives in relation to food and nutritional security. It also discussed the possibility of initiating efforts to harmonise policies to enhance food and nutrition security. The meeting was held as part of... Read More 0

Daily Nation Our African Universities are up in arms, and we are at sea (Kenya) Kenya’s universities are in upheaval. Students and lecturers have been in full protest mode in recent months. They are not alone. Across the western border in Uganda, it’s the same story. And they have been at it longer in South Africa. In Ethiopia, not too long ago, they were seeking regime change. Almost everywhere on the continent,... Read More 0

The World Bank is partnering with eight Governments in Eastern and Southern Africa in an innovative project with the aim of improving the quality of training and research in higher education, and reducing the skill gaps in key development priority areas. The Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE II) Project supports the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia in strengthening selected African Centers... Read More 0

Kampala, Uganda (15,May 2018) – The first five year (2018-2022) Operational Plan of the RUFORUM Vision 2030 Strategy (The African Universities’ Agenda for Agricultural Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation – AHESTI) has been approved.  The approval took place during the 14th Executive Board Meeting at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, held in Nairobi, Kenya on 12th May 2018 and was chaired by Professor Mabel Imbuga the Board Chairperson. The... Read More 0

The RUFORUM Secretariat is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Uwituze Solange, the Manager of Partnerships and Business Management (PBM) unit at RUFORUM Secretariat as the Deputy Director General, in charge of animal resources research and technology transfer of the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) by the Rwanda Cabinet meeting held on 27th April of 2018 Dr Uwituze Solange has been at RUFORUM Secretariat for three and a... Read More 0

By Mercyline Jerusa My name is Mercyline Jerusa and I come from Kakamega County in western Kenya. I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Agri-enterprise Development at Egerton University with funding from RUFORUM under the TAGDev (Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development) programme funded by the Mastercard Foundation.  My entrepreneurial journey started during the orientation training organized for the new TAGDev scholars last year.... Read More 0

The African Center for Agro-Ecology and Livelihood Systems (ACALISE) is a regional center of excellence that is funded by the World Bank through the Government of Uganda. The main objective of ACALISE is to streamline the production of high level, well-motivated and ethically conscious critical mass of Agro-Ecology and Livelihood Systems experts. The center which is hosted at Uganda Martyrs University collaborates quality postgraduate education as well as applied research to address... Read More 0

University World News PhD training – Why African government funding is needed (Africa) While international donor funding for PhD training programmes in Africa helps to accelerate progress and achieve results more quickly, financial contributions to such programmes by African governments are critical and have a range of long-term benefits, higher education experts suggest. Aminata Sall Diallo, a professor of physiology at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar in Senegal, and Ekua Bentil,... Read More 0

As pressure mounts on universities to be relevant in addressing key challenges facing society, one of the key areas is engaging with private sector. The universities and private companies have always worked together in an ad hoc and personal basis with no formalised arrangements on how to engage with each other. Part of the reasons for the ad hoc and personal basis of partnership is due to limited understanding of the interest,... Read More 0

The Vice chancellor of Gulu University Prof. George Openjuru Ladaah paid a courtesy call to RUFORUM secretariat on 7th May 2019. A meeting was held at the secretariat with an agenda to hold a National forum in Kampala, Uganda and engage stakeholders on how to support and promote the agenda of how communities should be involve in informing research done by universities, with emphasis of having African Universities solve the problems of... Read More 0

Van Guard Afe Babalola in Oxford: Proffers solutions to education problems in Africa (Africa) In his Book titled “A Paradise for Maggots: The story of a Nigerian Anti-graft Czar”, Wale Adebanwi, a Rhodes Professor of Race Relations and Director, African Studies Centre in Oxford University, painted a lucid but agonizing picture of how corruption has robbed Nigeria of its best in virtually all facets of human endeavor. Likewise, legal juggernaut and Founder... Read More 0

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 85 Universities in 35 African Countries, is pleased to announce the 2018 RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC). The overall purpose of the RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC) is to catalyse entrepreneurship through promotion of business innovation and provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas among African youth. RUYAEC, through an online... Read More 0

By Ephraim Nuwamanya and Settumba Mukasa Introduction Despite the field production constraints, sometimes production exceeds local household consumption levels in certain bumper harvests periods of the year ushering in new challenges such as wastage due to rotting of fresh tubers. This is further exercabated by poor post-harvest handling and low prices of fresh tubers. In order to avoid post-harvest losses, farmers have been engaged in traditional processing through peeling and drying chips... Read More 0

University World News US$5 million allocated for university technology hubs (Zimbabwe) The Zimbabwe government has set aside more than US$5 million to put in place technology hubs at six state-run universities in a move that it hopes will spearhead the country’s industrialisation and modernisation. Zimbabwe’s Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira said the first university hub is expected to be commissioned next month. He said... Read More 0

We are retained by the Association for Strengthening of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, (ASARECA) to identify a competent individual, who is a national of ASARECA member country to fill the post of Executive Secretary based in their headquarters in Entebbe, Uganda. ASARECA is a subregional not-for-profit organization covering eleven countries in Eastern and Central Africa, comprising Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan,... Read More 0