Ugandan, Iranian Universities partner for science disciplines exchange programme

Uganda’s Makerere University has signed an exchange programme MoU with Al Zahra university of Iran that targets the transfer of knowledge in science disciplines especially oil and gas from the Asian nation.

The exchange involves sending both graduate and undergraduate students as well as staff  to undertake both research and publication to ensure both universities share their knowledge and experience in a mutually beneficial way.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU vice chancellor at Makerere University Prof. John Ndumba-Ssentamu said the agreement would enable the university tackle some of the emerging challenges in the field of science especially as Uganda gears towards oil production.

“We hope that our students and staff will benefit from exchange programmes in science fields, most especially in oil and gas because Iran is very experienced in these disciplines,” Ddumba said.

“One of the core functions of Makerere University is knowledge transfer partnerships and networking. The university reaches out to the communities to seek their involvement in coming up with programs that best address the respective needs. I am happy that we are signing an MoU with Al-zahra University.”

The Iranian university on the other hand says the partnership will assist both countries handle various local concerns using an international platform.

“Collaborating is extremely important. Through sharing of knowledge, experience and Academic staff, we shall address our local concerns,”  said the Vice President of Al-Zahara University, Dr Khazali Ensiyeh.

Other fields of science that Uganda hopes to learn from the Iranians include nuclear science, stem cell and cloning research, medicine and aerospace.

As per the nature of the partnership both parties will be engaged in fundraising for the partnership and the intellectual property rights will be equally shared.

Uganda has been stepping up the training of its people on especially oil and gas and recently announced that it would award 600 scholarships to students from the resource rich Albertine region to train students.