BY PRORESSOR VENANSIUS BARYAMUREEBA, CHIEF GUEST AT UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY (UMU)’ S ANNUAL RSEARCH CONFERENCE, 09.30AM, 19 NOVEMBER 2014

1. UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATION. MYTH OR REALITY FOR UGANDA
BY PRORESSOR VENANSIUS BARYAMUREEBA, CHIEF GUEST AT
UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY (UMU)’ S ANNUAL RSEARCH
CONFERENCE, 09.30AM, 19 NOVEMBER 2014
VC UTAMU & Chairperson of UCVF; www.utamu.ac.ug
barya@utamu.ac.ug

2. Overview
• Higher Education (HE)
• University Education
• Research and Innovation
• Research and Development (R&D)
• Engagement
• Quality Assurance (QA)
• QA Systems/Frameworks
• Social Transformation (ST)
• Way Forward

3. Higher Education
• Education beyond high school
• Education that occurs after secondary education
• Post-secondary education
• Tertiary education
• Third level education
• Often delivered at universities, institutes,
colleges, schools, academies, seminaries

4. What is a University?
• Cambridge Dictionary: A college or collection of
colleges at which people study for a degree.
• An institution of higher education and research,
which grants academic degrees in a variety of
subjects and provides both undergraduate
education and postgraduate education.
• An educational institution designed for
instruction and examination of students in many
branches of advanced learning, conferring
degrees in various faculties, and often
embodying colleges and similar institutions.

5. Pitfalls in University Education in Uganda
• Focus on short courses, certificates and diplomas
• Universities by nature are academic and not
vocational
– Universities run academic programmes and thus the
graduates are academic degree holders.
– Vocational education (certificate/diploma education)
should be handled by vocational institutions
• Less focus on research- Low research output
• Poor teaching and research infrastructure
• PhD holders are still few compared to students
enrollment in Universities
• Low tuition fees that are far less than unit cost
• General curricula in most disciplines that falls short
of producing graduates with a specific skills set…

6. What is Research?
• The systematic investigation into and study of
materials and sources in order to establish facts and
reach new conclusions.
• A systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses,
suggests new interpretations of data or texts, and
poses new questions for future research to explore.
• Research consists of:
– Asking a question that nobody has asked before;
– Doing the necessary work to find the answer; and
– Communicating the knowledge you have acquired to a
larger audience.

7. Research Ethics
• Research ethics involves the application of
fundamental ethical principles to a variety of topics
involving research. Reasons why it is important to
adhere to ethical norms in research:
– Norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge,
truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions
against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research
data, promote the truth and avoid error.
– Ethical standards promote the values that are essential to
collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual
respect, and fairness. For example, many ethical norms in
research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and
patenting policies, data sharing policies, and
confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to
protect intellectual property interests while encouraging
collaboration.

8. Why adhere to ethical norms in research
• Many of the ethical norms help to ensure that
researchers can be held accountable to the public.
• Ethical norms in research also help to build public
support for research.
• Many of the norms of research promote a variety of
other important moral and social values, such as
social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare,
compliance with the law, and health and safety.
– For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical
trial may harm or even kill patients, and a researcher who
fails to abide by regulations and guidelines relating to
radiation or biological safety may jeopardize his health
and safety or the health and safety of staff and students.

9. Crosscutting ethical principles:
• Honesty. Strive for honesty in all scientific
communications. Honestly report data, results, methods
and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate,
falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not deceive colleagues,
granting agencies, or the public.
• Objectivity. Strive to avoid bias in experimental design,
data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel
decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other
aspects of research where objectivity is expected or
required.
• Integrity. Keep your promises and agreements; act with
sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.
• Carefulness. Avoid careless errors and negligence;
carefully and critically examine your own work and the
work of your peers.

10. Crosscutting ethical principles
Cont’d: • Openness. Share data, results, ideas, tools, and resources.
Be open to criticism and new ideas.
• Respect for Intellectual Property. Honor patents,
copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do
not use unpublished data, methods, or results without
permission. Give credit where credit is due. Give proper
acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to
research. Never plagiarize.
• Confidentiality. Protect confidential communications,
such as papers submitted for publication, personnel
records, trade or military secrets, and patient records.
• Responsible Publication. Publish in order to advance
research and scholarship, not to advance just your own
career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.

11. Crosscutting ethical principles
• Responsible Mentoring.CHoelpn tto ’eddu:c ate, mentor, and advise
students.
• Respect for colleagues. Respect your colleagues and treat
them fairly.
• Social Responsibility. Strive to promote social good and
prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public
education, and advocacy.
• Non-Discrimination. Avoid discrimination against colleagues or
students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors
that are not related to their scientific competence and
integrity.
• Competence. Maintain and improve your own professional
competence and expertise through lifelong education and
learning.
• Legality. Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and
governmental policies.

12. Research and Development (R&D)
• R&D is investigative activities that a business chooses to
conduct with the intention of making a discovery that can
either lead to the development of new products or
procedures, or to improvement of existing products or
procedures.
• R&D is work directed toward the innovation, introduction,
and improvement of products and processes.
• Innovation is a new method, idea, product, etc. Innovation
generally refers to changing or creating more effective
processes, products and ideas, and can increase the
likelihood of a business succeeding. Businesses that
innovate create more efficient work processes and have
better productivity and performance.
• Government must set research and innovation priorities
where public funds are involved

13. Importance of R&D in Business
• Proven Sales Growth. There is a strong correlation between
how much effort is put into R&D, and how well a company
performs.
• Competitive Advantage. Businesses are better positioned to
compete in the worldwide marketplace with constant R&D
investments at the proper levels.
• Innovation. Innovation is and has always been recognised as a
vital driver of economic growth and stability. New ideas can act
as catalysts for a whole era of new goods and services that
change the economy, increasing its strength and vitality.
• Furthering the Company’s Mission. If you’re just offering the
same product or service with no interest in expanding, your
business will grow stagnant and eventually be left in the dust.
Great businesses are always innovating, always looking for
ways to gain that competitive edge. R&D is a necessary step
toward furthering your company’s vision and goals.

14. University Engagement with Strategic Partners
• Student engagement with community/industry
• Staff engagement with community and industry
• Establishing teaching and research collaborations
– Informal and formal collaborations
– Contract research
• Public Private Partnerships
• Knowledge transfer partnerships
• Research dissemination
– Research policy briefs
• Innovation and Business incubation centres

15. Quality Assurance (QA)
• Maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or
product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the
process of delivery or production
• A process-centered approach to ensuring that a company or
organization is providing the best possible products or services
• Administrative and procedural activities implemented in a
quality system so that requirements and goals for a product,
service or activity is fulfilled
• The systematic measurement, comparison with a standard,
monitoring of processes and an associated feedback loop that
confers error prevention
• Two principles in QA: Fit for purpose’’ and ‘’Right first time’’
• QA cycle consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA)

16. Enforcing QA
• Institutional assessment (evaluation & outputs)
• Institutional audits
• Value for money audits
• System audits (qualitative description of processes)
• System accreditation (comprehensiveness of
programmes/systems)
• External Audits e.g. by Regulatory Bodies
• External stakeholder involvement (professional
bodies, potential employers, government
departments, alumni, parents, local communities)
• Internal stakeholder involvement (faculty, students)

17. QA Indicators
• Quality indicators are statistical measures that
give an indication of output quality and can also
give an indication of process quality
• Quality indicators are formally recognised figures
or ratios used as yardsticks to judge and assess
quality performance

18. QA Frameworks/Policies
• There are QA policies/frameworks at:
– HEI level e.g. University QA policies/frameworks
– National/Country Level e.g. NCHE of Uganda
– Regional Level e.g. Inter-University Council of EA
– Continental level –AU Commission
– Global level e.g. UNESCO/OECD Guidelines on “Quality
Provision In Cross-Border Higher Education”: UNESCO’s
Capacity Building Activities In Qualifications Recognition,
Quality Assurance And Accreditation-- Towards A Coherent
Framework
• QA frameworks/policies guide HE at these levels
• QA frameworks/policies provide QA indicators that are
used to measure quality

19. Social Transformation
• In social scientific literature the term social
transformation is increasingly used to describe
societal changes and generally indicates a critical
stance towards older notions of the idea of
development. Some scholars consider social
transformation studies as a field of research that can
lead to positive steps for social and political action
to protect local and national communities against
negative consequences of global change.
• In the social sciences societal transformation refers
to the change of society's systemic characteristics.
This incorporates the change of existing parameters
of a societal system, including technological,
economic, political and cultural restructuring.

20. Social Transformation Trends
• Social Transformation influences productive
infrastructure, which can bring about new
technological changes and new patterns of
participation in the international division of labour.
• New structures of economic organization are
developing. This may imply a change in ownership
rights, as well as in investments, production,
distribution and supply.
• The distribution and use of political power take
qualitatively different forms. This involves changes in
the structure and performance of state institutions
and other bodies of decision-making and control.
• A society's value-normative system can change,
often in a way that allows the emergence and
stabilisation of pluralist institutions.

21. Social Transformation at a Glance
• Social transformation affects all types of society in
both developed and less-developed regions, in the
context of globalisation of economic and cultural
relations, trends towards regionalisation, and the
emergence of various forms of global governance.
• Globalisation is leading to new forms of social
differentiation at the international and national
levels. Polarisation between rich and poor, and
social exclusion are problems affecting most
countries as well as the relations between them.
• The issue can no longer be defined in terms of
development, since it is no longer possible to draw
clear lines between developed and underdeveloped
areas, nor to put forward a universally-accepted goal
for processes of change.

22. Social Transformation at a Glance
• The study of social transformation refers to the
different ways in which globalising forces impact
upon local communities and national societies with
highly diverse historical experiences, economic and
social patterns, political institutions and cultures.
• Any analysis of social transformation therefore
requires analysis both of macro-social forces and of
local traditions, experiences and identities.
• The response to social transformation may not entail
adaptation to globalisation but rather resistance.
This may involve mobilisation of traditional cultural
and social resources, but can also take new forms of
'globalisation from below' through trans-national
civil society organisations."

23. Social Transformation: Other Views
• John Brennan, Roger King and Yann Lebeau. The Role of Universities in
the Transformation of Societies; An International Research Project
Synthesis Report, November 2004. ISBN 0 7492 0513 X
• Genov, N. 1999. Managing Transformations in Eastern Europe. UNESCO-MOST,
Paris.
• From Castles, S. 2000. Development, social transformation and
globalisation. Given at a Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation
Studies workshop 23-25 June 1999.
• Celine Sachs-Jeantet, Managing Social Transformations in Cities: A
Challenge to Social Sciences, Management of Social Transformation,
Discussion paper No. 2, UNESCO,
http://www.unesco.org/most/sachsen.htm
• Castles, S., Arias Cubas, M., Kim, C., Koleth, E., Ozkul, D. and
Williamson, R. 2011. ‘Karl Polanyi’s Great Transformation as a
Framework for understanding Neo-Liberal Globalisation‘, Social
Transformation and International Migration in the 21st Century Working
Paper No 1. Sydney: The University of Sydney.

24. The Role of Universities in Transformation of Societies
• What is being transformed in society: the economic, the
political, the social and the cultural aspects.
• Universities have frequently been regarded as key
institutions in processes of social change and
development. The most explicit role they have been
allocated is the production of highly skilled labour and
research output to meet perceived economic needs. But
to this role may be added, especially during periods of
more radical change, roles in the building of new
institutions of civil society, in encouraging and facilitating
new cultural values, and in training and socialising
members of new social elites.
• Transforming universities: changes in universities can be
viewed in terms of curricula reforms, quality and
standards; diversification; access policies, student profiles
and experiences; and academic responses to change.

25. Transforming Universities to Transform Society
• Changes in curriculum, quality and standards
– Meeting new external standards
– Quality assessment and accreditation
– Responses to local drivers
• The diversification of higher education
– Internationalisation, Regionalisation and
specialisation
– Privatisation
• Access policies
• student profiles and experiences
– Student activism
• Academic responses to change

26. University Education & Research for Social
Transformation. Myth or Reality for Uganda
• Neither a myth nor a reality
– A poorly planned education system that is not
integrated
– Universities are faced with poor inputs including
students
– Poor quality graduates in most disciplines
– Low research quality and output
– Low investment in research and development (R&D)
– Less interest from the local industry in R&D
• The government needs to put in place a
favorable environment for University Education
and Research to shrive => Social transformation

27. Till we meet
again!
I THANK YOU