The College of Computing and Information Sciences Makerere University was branded an iSchool after a collaboration of Makerere University and Syracuse’s iSchool.
This is an idea that was introduced to Ruhakana Rugunda Prime Minister of Uganda who was then then Minister of Information and Communication Technology by Syracuse’s iSchool representatives who after met with officials at Makerere University’s East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS).
They discovered that EASLIS had just joined with the School of Computing and Informatics Technology to form the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
This prompted them to discuss the idea of making Makerere University an iSchool with the Permanent Secretary of Gender, Labor and Social Development, which oversees Uganda’s public libraries; who lead the HIVE Co-lab, an incubator for entrepreneurship; and others from Uganda’s Ministry of ICT.
After words, Two CoCIS representatives attended the next iSchools Organization conference in Fort Worth, Texas in February 2013, to experience coming into a group of researchers and see what an iSchool community is like. They participated in panels and discussions and met organization and membership leaders.
This motivated CoCIS officials to draft a membership application in the global iSchool’s Organization which was submitted late in 2014 and approved.
Rugunda says the collaboration of Makerere University and Syracuse’s iSchool is a significant union for the future.
“I am glad that we are now witnessing the fruits of this initiative, and would like to salute the role played by Liz Ngonzi and Sarah Inoue in getting the project to this level, and for the welcome reception and support the team at Makerere University has given to the project,” He said.
He added that Uganda would want to see the collaboration as a foundation to much more partnership between Syracuse and Makerere in many fields.
The collaboration is a commitment to the advancement of iSchools nationwide and globally as an effort to advance the fields of information and technology for the future which initiative have helped fulfill those goals, while providing connections from Africa to the world that are serving everyone’s interests.
