UMI Prioritizes Research and Innovation.

UMI is currently 15th from 21st in 2019, out of than 60 institutions of higher learning in Uganda based on visibility (web contents Impact) scientific contribution (top cited researchers), and excellence (top 10 percent most cited in Sci-mago/Scopus). In Africa, it is ranked 470th position out of over 2300 universities, yet 9029th position out of over 25000 globally. That speaks to an increase in the institute’s research productivity and impact. The disciplines we are highly ranked in are Public Administration and management, education leadership and management and human resource and management.
“One of our strategies is the co-production of theoretical and practical knowledge to solve societal problems. Our students are mainly practitioner interested in applied research. We work with them to generate knowledge and management relate innovations to address the organizational and social challenges of our time.” Said Asst. Prof. Namara in an Interview
How UMI positioning itself as a research led university that integrates research, innovation, and enterprise into a dynamic and productive student?
UMI is a management development institute (MDI), uniquely positioned to offer postgraduate training, research and consultancy work. In 2019 UMI started the process of transforming into a research and innovation institute. That means we are committed to research as central part of our mission. UMI shall be known for research in certain disciplines, will attract students, funding and deliberately invest in undertaking impactful research projects.
While our efforts were not wanting before, we realise that we need to do more, by ensuring that the teaching and learning are informed by research, the consultancies we offer inform our teaching and lead to research projects and our research has greater socio-economic value. We have embarked on transforming all our curricula, polices structures systems and standard operating procedures to ensure that research is embedded into all these.
In 2023, we lick-started the cultural and mind-set change engagements with our students, staff, and external stakeholders to ensure they appreciate that research ,innovation and entrepreneurship are critical to transforming societies and positioning UMI to greater heights.
How has the Centre for research and innovation provided an enabling environment for innovative research and communication of the research outputs?
The centre is geared to guide regarding policies and guidelines for research, innovation and incentives for staff and students to undertake research. We have spearheaded the development of policies such as the research and innovation policy research ethics and policy, ant plagiarism policy, publications and patent policy, knowledge translation policy, partnership and grants management policy, graduate handbooks providing guideline to students and others.
We have other three research related establishments at UMI which are part of our game changer. They include the management business incubation centre (MBIC), the knowledge translation facility and the UMI research and Ethics committee (REC). Starting this month, the MBIC together with the Uganda Development Bank will run a hands on mentorship programme for 100 start-ups at UMI. The Centre has built partnerships with Uganda Development Bank Tech-Buzz Hub, Microfinance Support Centre at the University Of South Africa (UNISA).
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