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Rector Reveals Plans For Engineering Faculty on Day Two of The International Workshop on Defining Research and Innovation Strategy For Excellence.

• 02nd March, 2023 2:18pm

The Rector, of Islamic University in Uganda Prof Ismail Simbwa Gyagenda, has revealed that the university is starting the faculty of engineering in 2025. The rector said this during the second day of the international workshop on defining research and innovation strategy for excellence at IUIU females' campus-kabojja. He also thanked Professor Muhammad Ikbar Choudary for ensuring and stirring the galvanization and mobilization of Islamic universities in Africa to be part of the COMSTECH vision. He quoted Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends for a people ill, ³ there is no repelling it. And there is not for them besides Him any patron. ‘’So we cannot ask anybody to change us unless we change ourselves’’ he said. He added that the participants from different universities were chosen carefully and he trusts their leadership so they act positively and repatriate knowledge to their respective communities. He advised participants that they should make changes by the time their scholars come back, and the positive impact should have been made.

In his speech, Professor Rizwan Riaz, commended the management of IUIU under the good leadership of Professor Gyagenda and appreciated the IUIU females' campus. ‘’it’s a blessing it’s the first for me to come to Africa and Uganda but wow this campus is like resort’’ he said.

Professor Rizwan Riaz argued participants to be practical so that they can be able to solve the problems of their respective societies and this will wake research to go in the right direction.  He further promised a continuous relationship between IUIU and Pakistan. He also advised them to travel from different countries and universities plus empowering exchange programs for exposure.

Addressing participants, the chief guest Professor Dr Amb. Badr Katerega started by thanking Allah and the Government of Uganda for not only hosting IUIU but also creating an enabling environment that supports different international engagements. He appreciated the OIC Ministerial standing committee for science and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) and in particular the coordinator General prof. Dr Mohammed Iqbal Chauldary, made it possible for IUIU, Kampala University (KU), Islamic call university college, and other sister Universities in the East and West African regions to form the Alliance for Islamic Universities of Africa (AIUA) under the able leadership of prof. Ismail Simbwa Gyagenda.

He commended the National University of Science and Technology for ably presenting two distinguished scholar’s prof. Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector, Research; innovation and commercialization; National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and Prof. Dr Hamoud Rahman, Director of Research NUST are among the major facilitators for the ongoing workshop. ‘’As a former Ambassador of Uganda to Pakistan resident in Riyadh, I can tell you with confidence that NUST is one of the top-ranking Universities for science and technology not only in Pakistan but in the whole world. So we are excited to be amidst us’’. He said.

The chief guest told participants that the workshop is timely as traditional roles of universities are also rapidly changing in line with the changed circumstances of stakeholders and they can crudely define research as the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research is about the generation of new knowledge. Research is all about finding out that there is nothing as important as finding out that there’s something.

Professor katerega said that all researchers and innovators need a proper ground in philosophy since philosophy is all about the rationalization of knowledge as we search for the truth. Therefore, a combination of science and philosophy can lead them to good effective research and innovation.

He commented that Africa, the Muslim World and Uganda in particular are virgin and versatile areas for research and innovation. Therefore, Africans need to encourage their universities/ scholars to engage in meaningful research and innovation to transform the lives of their communities and provide opportunities and answers for the bulging youth population, Universities are key in this regard as they are uniquely positioned to mobilize the human resources to conduct relevant research and innovate new ideas for society.

He also emphasized that High-level transformative research and innovation collaboration that is product-driven would lead to patents and university-industry partnerships that can have real-time impacts on our communities. He was glad to see the fruits of their recent visit to Pakistan which has resulted in the Alliance of Universities signing MoUs to foster this collaboration.

‘’I call upon you participants, who are the ones to implement the MOUS to put to use whatever you have gained here, to share it with your colleagues, and hopefully, we can start counting the number of patents from this collaboration.; he said.

He concluded by appreciating IUIU for hosting this very important and innovative event which will help the participants and universities to actualize the output of their newly created alliance. Islamic universities in Africa are better positioned to conduct research (both unitary and multi-disciplinary) to solve challenges facing the Ummah using the most culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive approaches based on Islamic principles and values. IUIU has always hosted international workshops.

Baligeya Afan Afan Wakinyankali.