The first day of the meeting was devoted to a workshop on pedagogical leadership with a focus on “catalyzing systemic change for teaching and learning in African universities”. The workshop was organized together with the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) based in Nairobi, Kenya. ARUA and PASGR are partners in a project of the Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education and Innovation in Research (SPHEIR) which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), namely the Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL) project. At the workshop, resource persons from the PedaL project led the Deputy Vice Chancellors through various methodologies employed by the project. Other participants in this workshop and meeting were the Directors of ARUA Centres of Excellence and some Directors of Research.

As part of the two-day meeting, Makerere University hosted the first ARUA Public Lecture. The lecture was delivered by Professor Joe Oloka-Onyango on the theme “Unpacking Identities in Uber-Colonial Africa”.  In a very well structured and exciting lecture, Professor Onyango showed several different dimensions of identity crises and the need for a deconstruction of several institutional arrangements that foster a misunderstanding of choices made by people. The lecture was followed by a panel discussion of the theme by four Makerere academics from different schools.

The Vice Chancellor of Makerere University hosted the meeting participants to a cocktail reception at the Vice Chancellor’s Lodge at the end of the first day.

The second day of the meeting was devoted to the regular business of ARUA which focused on the organization of the ARUA international conference scheduled for 18-20 November 2019 in Nairobi. The meeting also discussed progress being made by the ARUA Centres of Excellence.