After long and tortuous negotiations with the National Council of Higher Education Mountains of the Moon University was finally awarded its Licence. It is the first University in Uganda to obtain its Licence before taking either staff or students. This is the new regime that all aspiring Universities will be expected to follow.
The chief problem is that with no Licence, no students and no staff it is not easy to sell the IDEA of the University to possible sponsors and donors. A number of generous individuals have given substantial sums on the basis of personal contact and trust and it is these funds which have allowed us to progress to the point we are now at.
In May we had our first group of students. They were Primary school teachers ranging in age from 22 - 50. The one thing they had in common was tremendous nervousness at coming to do a University course. So far they have completed the first of 18 3 week units but already it is possible to see great changes in their confidence. These Grade 3 teachers left school after 4 years in secondary school, they probably did rather badly in O-level exams and became teachers as the only employment outlet for them, they have to teach science which they have never studied and maths which the "ran away from" and with poor communication because their English is weak.
Generally the reason for such a dismal performance is simply that the teaching available to them was very poor so they had little chance. Their response to the course was one of delight and great lift in their confidence. The aim is to teach what they need as primary teachers in the subjects and the teaching methods to be effective. Later they will get into the laboratories which are about to be built and which are being equipped by Labaid, a charity which helps schools in Uganda, a private individual who does the same and the Irish Embassy. So we get by on wing and a prayer.
It is important to build up a reputation as soon as possible so that we can begin to attract the right sort of staff at a senior level. They must be very hard working, very creative in their work and totally convinced of the approaches we are determined to take: tutorial teaching as far as possible, with the particular aim of ensuring the students learn to solve problems and use the information they have to find answers to problems they have never seen before. They must learn that posing the question is the hard part and finding/deciding which of the possible answers is the best,at the moment must be their aim. The ability to ask questions is hard at the best of times but in a society which is reared on seniors knowing the answer, young people asking questions and thinking tend to be unpopular and very few on the ground. Most of the other universities have not managed to get beyond giving answers to questions posed in class. If we can generate an atmosphere of original thought among the students it will be virtually unique in Uganda.
In order to help raise the profile of the University and generate some small cash flow I am proposing to use some of the photographs I have taken to produce postcards, Mostly the postcards available are very poor and I surmise most of the wild life ones come from Kenya being elephants, lions etc, Same as you get everywhere in Africa. I attach one or two which will give an idea of what I am going to do. The story of Junonia Oenone, the butterfly with the blue patches was rather amusing. I have a small book of Ugandan butterflies but could not find it which I found rather surprising as a number of relatives were there and it is rather striking. Later I found it in another book and on checking back found it was listed with a note saying the brown and yellow specimen was faded. Not much help.
The chief problem is that with no Licence, no students and no staff it is not easy to sell the IDEA of the University to possible sponsors and donors. A number of generous individuals have given substantial sums on the basis of personal contact and trust and it is these funds which have allowed us to progress to the point we are now at.
In May we had our first group of students. They were Primary school teachers ranging in age from 22 - 50. The one thing they had in common was tremendous nervousness at coming to do a University course. So far they have completed the first of 18 3 week units but already it is possible to see great changes in their confidence. These Grade 3 teachers left school after 4 years in secondary school, they probably did rather badly in O-level exams and became teachers as the only employment outlet for them, they have to teach science which they have never studied and maths which the "ran away from" and with poor communication because their English is weak.
Generally the reason for such a dismal performance is simply that the teaching available to them was very poor so they had little chance. Their response to the course was one of delight and great lift in their confidence. The aim is to teach what they need as primary teachers in the subjects and the teaching methods to be effective. Later they will get into the laboratories which are about to be built and which are being equipped by Labaid, a charity which helps schools in Uganda, a private individual who does the same and the Irish Embassy. So we get by on wing and a prayer.
It is important to build up a reputation as soon as possible so that we can begin to attract the right sort of staff at a senior level. They must be very hard working, very creative in their work and totally convinced of the approaches we are determined to take: tutorial teaching as far as possible, with the particular aim of ensuring the students learn to solve problems and use the information they have to find answers to problems they have never seen before. They must learn that posing the question is the hard part and finding/deciding which of the possible answers is the best,at the moment must be their aim. The ability to ask questions is hard at the best of times but in a society which is reared on seniors knowing the answer, young people asking questions and thinking tend to be unpopular and very few on the ground. Most of the other universities have not managed to get beyond giving answers to questions posed in class. If we can generate an atmosphere of original thought among the students it will be virtually unique in Uganda.
In order to help raise the profile of the University and generate some small cash flow I am proposing to use some of the photographs I have taken to produce postcards, Mostly the postcards available are very poor and I surmise most of the wild life ones come from Kenya being elephants, lions etc, Same as you get everywhere in Africa. I attach one or two which will give an idea of what I am going to do. The story of Junonia Oenone, the butterfly with the blue patches was rather amusing. I have a small book of Ugandan butterflies but could not find it which I found rather surprising as a number of relatives were there and it is rather striking. Later I found it in another book and on checking back found it was listed with a note saying the brown and yellow specimen was faded. Not much help.
posted by Patrick & Kathie at 8:23 PM
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