Celebrating Depth, Relevance, and Impact
Following celebrations held at Makerere University in Uganda last month, UiB hosted a breakfast seminar at Christie Café with participants in the many collaborative activities on-going at the University of Bergen.
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30 years of collaboration
UiB Pro-Rector, Margareth Hagen, opened the breakfast seminar on behalf of the UiB leadership. Newly returned from the November whirlwind tour of Mak, Hagen reported that she was impressed with the breadth of the UiB-Mak collaboration, and with the relevance of the activity for both partners. She also underlined, that many of the issues being addressed at Mak are global – effecting institutions of higher learning around the world. She gave an example of the visit to Makerere University Library where she engaged in discussions about questions of open access and publication costs.
In Uganda, Professor Thorkild Tylleskär, the UiB coordinator for the Mak-UiB collaboration, organised several days of meetings and visits for the visiting UiB team including a number of university Faculties (Colleges / Departments), and the University Hospital. UiB leadership representatives, Hagen, UiB Assistant Director, Tore Tungodden, and the Vice Dean of the Medical Faculty, Marit Bakke were given opportunities to dialogue with Mak leadership and researchers, many of whom are UiB alumni.
Capacity-building via the Mak-UiB collaboration has resulted in around 150 PhDs, and about 300 Masters. Most have returned to Uganda to take up posts in higher education and government. Andrea Magugliani is currently responsible for UiB’s Alumni Network. Hagen invited Magugliani to share some highlights from the Alumni activity that was part of the Mak celebration. Learn more.
Learn more about the collaboration.
Addressing the sorry state of science at Mak
Karen Lillethun, the widow of Endre Lillethun, gave a short address to those attending the breakfast seminar. Endre Lillethun had been the “founding father” of the UiB-Mak collaboration in 1988.
Karen spoke of the chaos and desolation that she and Endre met on the Mak campus at that time.
How proud and thankful Endre would be today, to witness the results and see the on-going activity in the collaboration.
Karen underlined, that the achievements are also a testament to the strong character, determination, and commitment the Ugandan people. Learn more.
In the image below, Karen Lillethun is wearing the honorary robe she was given when accepting the Honorary Doctorate Mak awarded Endre Lillethun in 2010.
Photo:
Thorkild Tylleskär
15 current, on-going projects
After sharing some general information about the 30 years of collaboration, Tylleskär turned the floor over to representatives from the various projects to share brief highlights about their activity. See more information about the projects in the right side bar.
Video from first decade of collaboration: A Unique African Story
- Video – Celebrating 30 years