Makerere University

Makerere University (Mak, or MUK) is Uganda’s oldest and largest institution of higher learning, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It began as a trade school in 1921, offering classes in carpentry, building construction, and mechanics, and was formally founded as the Uganda Technical College in 1922. That same year it was renamed Makerere College, and in 1928 its vocational classes were split off to become Kampala Technical School. By 1937, the college was offering post-secondary certificate courses, though only diplomas, not degrees.

In 1943, the British protectorate government proposed upgrading Makerere to a university, sparking controversy. The Bataka Party described the plan as “a plot to steal African soil for European settlement,” leading to rioting in Kampala. The Asquith Commission, established by the British government in 1943, recommended raising Makerere to full university status but warned against granting degree-giving powers prematurely. In 1949, Makerere College became a constituent college of the University of East Africa. That same year, the Bataka Party was banned after acts of riot and arson in 1945. Makerere became an independent national university in 1970.

Today, the university comprises nine colleges and one school, serving about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates. These include the College of Natural Sciences, College of Health Sciences, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies, College of Business and Management Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Computing and Information Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security, College of Education and External Studies, and Makerere University Business School. It also has a campus in Jinja City, Eastern Uganda.

Makerere has been a hub for African nationalist literary activity, particularly in the years after Uganda’s independence. Writers such as Nuruddin Farah, Ali Mazrui, David Rubadiri, Okello Oculi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, John Ruganda, Paul Theroux, Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul, and Peter Nazareth were associated with the university.