THE FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE TRAINING PORTFOLIO

1. THE FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE TRAINING PORTFOLIO By Archileo N. Kaaya Associate Professor & Deputy Dean (Training) Faculty of Agriculture

2. Overview • FA training has greatly contributed to national development since it started in 1958 • Training responds to client needs • Quality standards highly emphasized • Have greatly expanded since 2000; four undergraduate programmes introduced

3. Strengths of the training programme • Faculty has 9 undergraduate and over 24 Postgraduate Programmes • Five new proposed undergraduate programmes • 1200 undergraduates; 205 Postgraduates • Areas of specialty: Agriculture, Food Science & Tech, Human Nutrition, Horticulture, Agric. Engineering, Agribusiness, Land use & Mgt, Agric. Rural Innovations

4. Strengths cont’d • Internship programme • First Faculty to fully integrate internship in our curricula • Link with international universities e.g. IOWA State University Service learning Programme; • Sustainability: Linked to organizations in Uganda: UCA, Local Gov’t DLSP, NARO etc., which have taken large numbers of students and would like to partner with the Faculty in Field attachment. • Overall: Better graduates who can face realities in the field

5. Strengths cont’d • Regional MSc and PhD programmes • Attracted over 100 students • Income generation • Exchange of staff and students; thus great knowledge gain, teaching skills and experience

6. Strengths cont’d • MUARIK imparts practical knowledge to students of various levels • Primary and secondary schools • Service learning activities • Attachment of certificate and diploma trainees • Practical training during normal semester and Recess Term of Faculty students

7. Strengths cont’d • Continuing Agric. Education Centre • Linking with several organizations and institutions: Sassakawa, WFP, Israel institutions, AICAD, FAO, NARO, Food Processing Industries • Short training courses for NGOs, SMEs, farmers, others • Outreach programmes • Established a technology village

8. Challenges • Teaching infrastructure and materials • Few lecture theatres, these lack up-to-date training facilities/teaching aids • Labs lack adequate facilities, thus turned into lecture theatres • Inadequate computer facilities: 2 computer labs, few computers • Delay in releasing funds for teaching materials; reduced budgets

9. Challenges cont’d • Movement of students and staff both for field practical trips and to Kabanyolo • Too few vehicles • In poor conditions • Huge maintenance costs

10. Challenges cont’d • Problems at Kabanyolo hostel • Lecture theatre too old • Library and computer space limiting • Power problems • Students too crowded • Who is responsible for what?

11. Suggestions to management • Adequate funding for teaching materials and timely release of funds • Address policies that directly concern training and research • Visiting lecturers be recognized by the University • External examiners for postgraduates need to be paid good allowance and in time • Existing teaching infrastructure needs overhauling and also new ones established • Supervision allowance of staff needs to be revised upwards • Problems of transport including movement of students need to be improved (we need at least 2 more big buses and 4 big vans)

12. I thank all of you for coming and listening to me