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22-578: The main administrative block was gutted by fire in September 2020 and the cause of the fire is yet to be established. The building is being reconstructed. Makerere University is the alma mater of many post-independence African leaders, including Ugandan president Milton Obote and Tanzanian presidents Julius Nyerere and Benjamin Mkapa . The former president of the Democratic Republic of

44-428: A Bataka protest gathering. The university was closed three times between 2006 and 2016. Beginning on 1 August 2016, the non-teaching staff went on strike demanding back pay. The strike lasted three weeks and the government agreed to pay them by the end of October; however, the government failed to make the payment. This was but one more broken promise in a cycle of failed promises, strikes and more promises. That strike

66-601: A budgeted cost of UGX:21 billion (approx. US$ 6 million). The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to Excel Construction Company Limited, a Ugandan company and a subsidiary of the Madhvani Group . The reconstruction process began in April 2022, starting with tearing down the structurally unsound original building, built in the 1930s and commissioned in 1941. Alma mater Alma mater (Latin: alma mater ; pl. : almae matres )

88-728: A robed woman wearing a laurel wreath crown. Although alma (nourishing) was a common epithet for Ceres , Cybele , Venus , and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. In the Oxford Latin Dictionary , the full phrase's origin is attributed to De rerum natura , in which Lucretius uses the term as an epithet for an unnamed earth goddess: Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi omnibus ille idem pater est, unde alma liquentis umoris guttas mater cum terra recepit (2.991–993) We are all sprung from that celestial seed, all of us have same father, from whom earth,

110-637: A title for Mary, mother of Jesus . By the early 17th century, the nursing mother became an allegory for universities. Used by many schools in Europe and North America, it has special association with the University of Bologna , whose motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies") emphasizes its role in originating the modern university . Several university campuses in North America have artistic representations of alma mater , depicted as

132-528: A university by Nsibirwa, a former prime minister of the Buganda Kingdom, in 1945. Despite facing numerous challenges in Uganda's political, social, and academic history, the institution has persevered for a century. On October 7, 2022, a ceremony commemorating the centenary was held at Freedom Square, with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in attendance. A statue monument was unveiled at the entrance of

154-461: Is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning 'nourishing mother'. It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to alumnus , literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a school graduate. In its earliest usage, alma mater was an honorific title for various mother goddesses , especially Ceres or Cybele . Later, in Catholicism , it became

176-467: Is mentioned in a remembrance of Henry More by Richard Ward. Many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The Latin name of the University of Bologna , Alma Mater Studiorum (nourishing mother of studies), refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world . At other European universities, such as

198-864: The Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig, Germany, or Alma Mater Jagiellonica , Poland, the title emphasizes historic ties to a founding city or dynasty. The Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg , Austria, an international university founded by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2010, uses the term as its official name. In the United States , the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia , has been called

220-430: The university press . The first-known appearance of the device is on the title-page of a book by William Perkins , A Golden Chain , where the Latin phrase Alma Mater Cantabrigia ("nourishing mother Cambridge") is inscribed on a pedestal bearing a lactating woman wearing a mural crown . In reference works of English etymology, often the first university-related usage is cited as 1710, when an academic mother figure

242-666: The "Alma Mater of the Nation" because of its ties to the founding of the country. At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario , and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society. Modern sculptures of Alma Mater are found on several North American university campuses. In 1901, a bronze statue of Alma Mater by Daniel Chester French

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264-731: The Congo , Joseph Kabila , and former Kenyan president the late Mwai Kibaki are also Makerere alumni. In the years immediately after Uganda's independence, Makerere University was a focal point for the literary activity that was central to African nationalist culture. Many prominent writers, including Nuruddin Farah , Ali Mazrui , David Rubadiri , Okello Oculi , Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o , John Ruganda , Paul Theroux , Nobel Prize laureate V. S. Naipaul , and Peter Nazareth , were at Makerere University at one point in their writing and academic careers. Because of student unrest and faculty disenchantment,

286-474: The arts, education, agriculture and medicine. That same year it was again renamed as Makerere College. In 1928, the vocational classes were separated from the college and renamed Kampala Technical School. In 1937 the college began offering post-secondary education certificate courses. In 1943, the British Protectorate government proposed the university, which led to a controversial struggle. It

308-527: The building structure. A subsequent investigation by an eleven-person team could not establish a definite cause of the fire, but pointed to an electric fault as a likely cause. In August 2021, the Cabinet of Uganda resolved to break down what remained of the Main Building after the fire. A new building, which will be designed to look like the original structure, will be erected at the same location, at

330-466: The nourishing mother, receives drops of liquid moisture After the fall of Rome , the term was used in Christian liturgy to describe Jesus' mother, Mary . " Alma Redemptoris Mater " is a well-known eleventh century antiphon devoted to Mary. The earliest documented use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when the University of Cambridge printer, John Legate, began using an emblem for

352-443: The university announced the opening of two new campuses, one in the city of Fort Portal , approximately 310 kilometres (190 mi), by road, west of Kampala , and another one in the city of Jinja , approximately 85 kilometres (53 mi), by road, east of Kampala. The following courses are offered at the upcountry campuses: In September 2020, a fire gutted the Main Building of Makerere University, destroying university records and

374-501: The university was closed three times between 2006 and 2016. The final time was on 1 November 2016 when President Yoweri Museveni declared it closed indefinitely. The university was reopened in January 2017. The trade school that became Makerere University began operating in 1921 with the first classes in carpentry, building construction and mechanics. In 1922, it was founded as the "Uganda Technical College" with additional courses in

396-457: The university's Freedom Square to mark this significant milestone in Uganda's educational sector. The University Council is the supreme governing body of the university while the Senate is the chief academic organ of the university. See also: List of Makerere University academics As of September 2015, the halls of residence at Makerere University included the following: In January 2010,

418-559: Was described as "a plot to steal African soil for European settlement," by the Bataka Party . In response to this campaign, there was rioting in the capital of Kampala . In 1949, Makerere College was granted university status and its name became Makerere College, University of East Africa. In the same year, the Bataka Party had been banned by the British Protectorate government, because of acts of riot and arson committed after

440-475: Was due in late February 2017. On 20 September 2020, the main building of Makerere University (the Ivory Tower) was severely damaged by fire, allegedly following a probe by Uganda Parliament into financial mismanagement by university authorities. In 2022, the university celebrated its centenary since its establishment as Makerere College in 1922. The institution was granted additional land for expansion into

462-433: Was followed by a strike of the lecturers over unpaid incentive pay, and that strike was joined by students in solidarity. This led to President Yoweri Museveni closing the university "indefinitely". Additional protests, including from parents whose children were left hanging in mid-semester, led to Museveni appointing a special commission to try to rectify the situation but with no promises of reopening. The commission's report

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484-679: Was installed of steps of Columbia University 's Low Library . A similar sculpture, cast in 1919 by Mario Korbel , sits on the main entrance steps at the University of Havana . Later American tributes to alma mater include Lorado Taft's 1929 sculpture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cyrus Dallin's 1925 sculpture at the Mary Institute in 1925, commissioned by Washington University supporters. An altarpiece mural in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library , painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage , depicts

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