Africa-Press – Uganda. Engineering students from Makerere University will this year benefit from a mentorship programme with Chinese experts.
Dr Abubaker Matovu Wasswa, the head of Department of Electrical Engineering and the current principal of College of Art Design and Technology, said: “Last year, the College of Art Design and Technology signed an MoU with CCCC to train our students and also offer them internship opportunities. They constructed the Entebbe Expressway very fast.”
China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) signed the memorandum of understanding with the university to equip engineering graduates with modern industry skills.
Speaking at the career fair on Thursday, Mr Wen Zuo Huang, the head of human resources at CCCC, said as the greatest construction company in China, they would like to work with Makerere University to turn good engineering graduates into excellent engineers, who will contribute to national development.
“This is the first step to cooperate with Makerere University and we hope that one day the local engineers will outnumber the Chinese engineers. We have projects such as KCCA Lot 5 and Entebbe—Kauku Road, where they are going to work and we shall take the best two engineers for further training in China,” he said.
Asked how many graduates and the type of engineering courses they should have undertaken at Makerere University, he said they need 15 graduates from computer aided design, civil engineers and two survey engineers, who should have a good understanding of commonly used surveying instruments.
They will also need a documenter and two civil engineering technicians, two laboratory technicians and an electrician for the Asphalt Batching Plant.
Mr Samson Bagonza, the government chief engineer, observed that the 2019 Global Engineering Index placed Uganda at number 102 out of 129 countries which were surveyed for innovations and the quality of engineering standards.
He added that in Africa, Uganda is lagging behind South Africa, which was ranked 63rd.
Kenya was at 77th position and Rwanda at position 95. He said Uganda is doing badly in innovations, creative ideas, new knowledge and concepts required to produce cutting edge scientific technology.
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