Makerere University Business School has teamed up with two Dutch Universities to boost the literature on procurement.
Representatives from MUBS, University of Twente and Maaschricht School of Management in May held a seminar under the theme " Enhancing Capacity in Procurement in Uganda , evidence and a way forward"

The seminar held at Ridar Hotel in Seeta was sponsored by the Netherlands government. The purpose of the seminar was to ensure the relevance of procurement education in the country through curriculum review and development of new programmes, including short courses.

Dr. Joseph Ntayi the Dean, Faculty of Business Computing and Management Science said that the process is aimed at improving the quality and competence of procurement staff.

He said the School has five members of staff in their advanced stage of their doctoral thesis while eight members have completed their masters programmes in the same field.

The Faculty of Management organized a one day research workshop where the academic staff presented their research papers. This was the second Faculty research seminar held at City Royal Hotel in Bugolobi.

In his key note address to the Academic staff, the Dean, Mr. Freddie Semukono emphasized that research and publication are key items in the growth and development of one’s academic career. He pointed out that one’s growth can best be achieved if one handles research and have their findings published in the referred journals.

The Principal Mentee and also Dean, Faculty of Business Computing and Management Science, Dr. Joseph Ntayi said that in the academic profession you either research and publish or perish; there’re is no shortcut to that. He encouraged participants to take advantage of the research fund provided by the school and write   research proposals. Dr. Ntayi was not different from Prof. J.C Munene who highlighted that research is a key item in one’s academic path in any academic institution.

Prof. Pascal Ngoboka is an Associate professor of Economics at the College of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin River Falls in the USA. He serves as a visiting professor at MUBS in the Department of Finance, Faculty of Commerce. Every year he visits the School as part of his visiting professorship duties .

This year during his three weeks visit at the School, he got engaged in a number of activities that included lecture presentations to the MBA students on taxation policy. He also had meetings and discussions with PhD students at various stages.

Prof. Pascal Ngoboka
Visiting Professor

In addition to that Prof. Ngoboka had presentations and discussions with the Academic staff of Accounting and Finance departments on teaching effectively and assurance of learning.

When asked about his research interests he had this to say “ My current research interests are in the areas of Taxation and Tax Policy Changes and their Implications, and Pedagogical issues in the teaching of Principles of Economics courses. In these studies, I have applied various statistical tools such as regression analysis and ANOVA.

About his work experience with MUBS ; Prof Ngoboka noted that “ MUBS is the place one would like to visit any time. The determination to excel is the first impression you see on people’s faces on getting into MUBS. The hospitality and willingness from the students to learn makes one to long for another return”

About 20 members from MUBS attended the 5th ORSEA Conference that took place in Dar-es-Salam this year.

ORSEA stands for Operations Research, a discipline that focuses on the study of optimal resource allocation to provide a basis for decision making. The Interim Chairman, Mr. Moya Musa said that operational research can also be used in various areas including Inventory Management, transportation, queuing, assignment, network models, and game theory among others.

The activities of ORSEA include educating the people about the importance of Operations Research through conferences, research, publications, workshops and seminars.

Mr. Moya Musa
ORSEA Interim Chairman

ORSEA offers consultancy services to the business community, researchers, education and practitioners in order to optimally allocate resources and simplify decision making.