This week, find out about what drones could do for internet in Africa and the image makeover needed in technical colleges. Meanwhile, rivalry with neighbour Kenya seems to be all the rage in Uganda’s printed media – see how the two countries compare on higher education and on tourism, below…
Uganda news in brief: M7 and PM Mbabazi relations reach all-time low (Observer) ++++ well-known gorilla Mwirima dies prematurely at 35 (Monitor) ++++ Uganda named one of the top tourism investment destinations in the region (New Vision) ++++ World Bank postpones $90m loan over anti-gay law (Independent)
05/03/2014
VOCATION: there’s a general perception in Uganda that vocational training centres only take people who fail their exams, the Monitor reports. Yet a common criticism of the academic strand of education is that it is too theoretical, failing to provide students with the skills they need to flourish in the real world. Now it’s time for the technical colleges to gain the recognition they deserve.
DRONES: big news for all remote areas: Facebook is looking into buying a solar-powered drone manufacturer – a technology that could provide wireless internet to the back of beyond, as New Vision reports.
HIGHER EDUCATION: Kenyan universities are growing – meaning that fewer Kenyan students are arriving to study in Kampala, the Monitor reports. This has raised concern among those working in Uganda’s higher education sector, which has received billions of shillings in the past from foreign students.
HEALTH: in a first for East Africa, according to the Monitor, Uganda and India are to join forces to establish a multimillion dollar cancer research and treatment centre in Kololo, Kampala.
EMPOWERMENT: Uganda’s poor, rural women are often overlooked. Now over 6,000 of them are to benefit from business skills and entrepreneurship training – more in New Vision.
DISABILITY: 6,713 students graduated last Friday from Kyambogo University. Now it’s been announced that the institution, the second-largest public university in Uganda, is to start a course in deaf-blindness, with a view to ensuring equal education for all. New Vision reports.
AGRICULTURE: Israel is to triple its intake of Ugandan students on its agricultural programme. The Israeli ambassador hopes to have a bigger impact on the region – even the world. “I am excited about domesticating the Nile Perch,” he says in New Vision, “because this is not a Ugandan challenge but world over, most especially in the revolution of food security.”
and in other news…
MUSIC: there’s that feeling you get when you know you’ve heard a song somewhere before… well, it might be because of the growing problem of music counterfeiting – New Vision elaborates.
