Kyambogo University
Kyambogo University is created with the ultimate aim of promoting and advancing knowledge and development of skills in Science, Technology and Education and such other fields for the purpose of enhancing equity, progress and transformation of the Ugandan society.
Kyambogo University (KYU) became Uganda’s third public university to be established by the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001 and the Universities and Other Tertiary institutions’ (Establishment of Kyambogo University) instruments of 2003. It is a merger of the former Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK), the Institute of Teacher Education, Kyambogo (ITEK), and the Uganda National Institute of Special Education (UNISE).
Although Kyambogo is a relatively new university, it has a rich history that dates as far back as 1928. UPK one of the institutions that gave birth to the University started in 1928 as a small technical school on Makerere Hill and was transferred to Kyambogo Hill in 1958 as Kampala Technical Institute.
It was renamed Uganda Technical College and finally UPK. The other institution ITEK, started as a Government Teacher Training College in 1948 in Nyakasura, Fort Portal and transferred to Ruharo and then Ntare Hill in Mbarara, western Uganda. It transformed into a National Teachers’ College and later ITEK as per the statue of parliament in 1989. UNISE on the other hand started as a Department of Special Education at ITEK in 1988, and later became an autonomous institution by act of parliament in 1998.
Kyambogo is 8 km from the centre of Kampala City, the Capital of Uganda and barely, kilometer away from Banda a bustling Kampala suburb that lies along the Jinja- Kampala highway. The university provides high quality education to its with critical emphasis on a research strategy that focuses on the most intellectually engaging and practically applicable areas of study. Such a dynamic approach is geared at creating teachers, engineers, community development specialists, managers and other professionals.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The faculty of Arts and Social Sciences offers a rich mixed grill of programmes in the Arts and Social Sciences designed to impart total education in humanities by providing education of the heart and mind to equip the students for quality service to transform society. As way of enabling students to excel, the university ensures a comprehensive study support through tutorials that it offers to its students.
FACULTY DEPARTMENTS
The Faculty has eight (8) Departments
– Department of Economics and Statistics
– Department of Geography and Social Studies
– Department of History
– Department of Religious Studies
– Department of Music and Performing Arts
– Department of Languages and Communications
– Department of Literature
– Department of Sociology and Social Administration Faculty of Education.
The Faculty of Education offers a wide range of professional programmes in Education, Guidance and Counseling and Development Studies. We aim at producing relevant personnel for secondary schools, Primary Teachers Colleges, National Teachers Colleges, Educational Departments both at district and national levels and other related institutions. The university’s guidance and counseling programmes are geared towards producing professionals that are able to work in educational, occupational, health, social and security institutions.
The Development Studies programmes aim at producing professionals who are to work in civil society organizations as well as government departments with a focus on achieving holistic individual and national development. The graduates in educational planning and management are trained for the purpose of promoting quality institutional management with a view to enhancing quality education and quality personnel relationships.
A part from training Teachers and Tutors, the Faculty trains professionals in the areas of Development Studies and Guidance and Counseling.
The Faculty offers courses in professional subjects at two levels.
First all students who are training as teachers for pre-primary, primary, secondary schools and Teacher’s College’s, take core ‘Professional Studies courses’ from this Faculty.
Secondly educational subjects like Foundations of Education, Psychology and Educational Administration are offered as electives for in-depth study and research to students in sister Faculties within the University.
Departments in the Faculty of Education
Teacher Education and Development Studies
Psychology Foundations of Education
Educational Planning and Management
Distance Education
Faculty of Engineering
The Faculty of Engineering was formed in 2001. It was a direct product of the former Schools of Civil and Building, Mechanical and Production, Electrical and Electronic Engineering of former Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK) and the former Department of Technological Studies of former Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK) when the Government of the Republic of Uganda kick-started Kyambogo University by merging UPK, ITEK and former Uganda National Institute of Special Education (UNISE).
The new change was qualitative as the faculty began to train students at degree level in addition to training at them at a Technician level. The faculty for that matter enjoys a richly enviable history that stretches as far back as1921 when it all started as Kampala Technical College (KTC). Vocational subjects were added to the Technical subjects in 1922.
A few years down the road, in 1928 KTC transformed into Kampala Technical School (KTS) on the slopes of Makerere hill. Later in1942 the Engineering School was formed at the current Makerere University play ground and it was later transferred to Nakawa. But the Engineering School was transferred to Kyambogo as Kampala Technical Institute (KTI). And in 1964 KTI was upgraded to the Uganda Technical College (UTC) Kyambogo.
Come1984 and UTC became part of the Faculty of Technology, Makerere University. Yet, in1986 it was retracted from Faculty of Technology, Makerere University and upgraded to UPK. As a result, in 2001 the Faculty of Engineering was formed as already mentioned above.
The Faculty of Engineering is comprised of four (4) Departments, namely:
• Department of Civil and Building Engineering (DCBE).
• Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering (DMPE).
• Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DEEE).
• Department of Lands and Architectural Studies (DLAS).
The Faculty of Science
The faculty of Science has a mission to transform the private sector and industry in general through training of a skilled based labour force, well equipped with relevant information and knowledge for the 21st century industrial economy. To this end, the Faculty runs several programmes which have been developed through wide consultation with all the stakeholders in the country.
The Faculty in summary provides programmes in Textiles, Clothing, Science, Technology and Environment and has close links with government departments, research organizations and the private sector in the country. The faculty strongly believes that as a Faculty, the only way the faculty can be relevant and grow in the right direction is to forge vibrant and beneficial links with the private sector.
It is through such linkages that the various curricula that the faculty offers will be able to meet the needs of the changing industrial economy by producing the required skills and human resource. The Faculty boasts of active Students’ Associations in Chemistry, Biology, Environment and Textiles which hold frequent meetings and organize visits to industry and exhibitions.
They also act as a focus of social life for the students in the Faculty. Faculty Organization
The Faculty of Science currently comprises six (6) departments.
These are:
(i) Biological Sciences
(ii) Chemistry
(iii) Computer Science
(iv) Physics
(v) Mathematics
(vi) Sports Science Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation (FSNR),Kyambogo
The faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation is such a unique faculty that assumes responsibility, starting from where other faculties, or service providers stop. Way back in 1988 this great faculty started as a Department of Special Education, under the defunct Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo (ITEK).
Ten years, later, in 1998 the department was upgraded, and under the Act of Parliament became an autonomous institute, known as the Uganda National Institute of Special Education (UNISE), permitted to train teachers and other professionals for the award of ITEK diplomas and Makerere University degrees, respectively.
With the establishment of Kyambogo University in 2001, two years later, in 2003, UNISE was merged to become part of Kyambogo University. In that event the institute status was revoked, so UNISE was customized into a Faculty status. Plans are underway to reverse this status to an institute soon.
Currently the Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation comprises three departments, namely: Adult and Community Education (ACE), Community and Disability Studies (CDS) and Special Needs Studies (SNS).
School of post graduate studies
The establishment of the School of Postgraduate Studies and Research was proposed at the time of restructuring of Kyambogo University (KYU) by the Consultancy Firm K2 Informatics Final Report of November 2004.
The report recommended that the University should establish a School of Postgraduate Studies and Research to teach postgraduate degrees and conduct research in various fields of study. This would be in line with the University Vision which is “Academic and Professional Excellence.” The report went ahead to say, that it is research that bestows excellence on a University, giving it international recognition as a centre of excellence.
It is from research that teaching is inspired when students are being taught by internationally rated academics. According to the report a lack of a national research strategy was highlighted and the reported implore Kyambogo University to take the initiative and propose a National Research Strategy when the school came into place. The Kyambogo University Council and its committees approved the K-2 Informatics Limited Report of 25th November 2004 on the Restructuring of Kyambogo University and Management was urged to go ahead and implement the report.
The University Council approved the establishment of the School of Postgraduate Studies and Research to centrally and more efficiently coordinate graduate training and research which was largely handled at the Faculty and Departmental levels. Council had realized that the number of graduate students at KYU had increased significantly since 2001.
The academic quality of individual postgraduate programmes, their academic governance process, the administrative and students support functions were highly decentralized and there was no mechanism for ensuring consistent quality overall. There was also no office with the sole responsibility for promoting success of graduate students and faculty.
This was in recognition of the need to ensure quality in graduate training and research. The University Council therefore instructed the kick start of the School of Postgraduate Studies and Research in February 2008. The school currently provides advocacy and administrative support for graduate students and graduate programmes. It also provides a mechanism for implementation and enforcement of graduate studies policies. Currently Management is in the process of establishing the various organs of the School of Postgraduate Studies and Research.
