Annual Kajubi-Fulbright Lecture Brings Together University Leadership, Diplomats And Students To Honour Uganda’s Education Reform Pioneer
As his tenure in Uganda draws to a close, United States Ambassador William W. Popp chose Makerere University’s Great Hall for one of his final major public addresses — delivering a keynote at the Annual Kajubi-Fulbright Lecture that was equal parts tribute, challenge, and call to action for Uganda’s education system.
The lecture, held on Thursday April 23, 2026, brought together members of the Kajubi family, senior academics, policymakers, students from Makerere University and Manhattan College, and Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe — gathering under the theme: “Education Policy Reform as an Enabler of Student Success.”
At its heart, the event was a celebration of two legacies: the international exchange vision of US Senator J. William Fulbright, and the intellectual and policy contributions of Prof. William Senteza Kajubi — the Ugandan scholar who in 1952 became the first African to receive a Fulbright Scholarship, and who went on to serve twice as Vice Chancellor of Makerere University.
Ambassador Popp’s Farewell Message
Speaking with the reflective tone of a diplomat nearing the end of his posting, Ambassador Popp opened by acknowledging the significance of the occasion — his nearly three years of engagement with Makerere, and the particular meaning of returning to the institution for this specific lecture as he prepares to leave Uganda.
His central argument was straightforward but demanding: education must connect to the real needs of tomorrow’s economy without sacrificing the deeper purpose that makes it valuable.
“Uganda’s economy is evolving. Technology is transforming industries. New opportunities are emerging in agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and services. Your students need to be ready — not just for the jobs that exist today, but for careers that haven’t even been invented yet,” he told the audience. “That requires education systems that are nimble, responsive, and connected to the real world.”
But Popp was careful to frame this not as a purely vocational argument. The best education, he insisted, does not force a choice between technical skills and independent thought. “We don’t have to choose between teaching students to think and teaching them to work. The best education does both.”
He also called for accountability and honest measurement of learning outcomes — noting that what gets measured gets improved, and that systems which cannot answer the question of whether students are actually learning and gaining skills cannot claim to be delivering on education’s promise.
His challenge to students in the room was direct: “Take your education seriously. Not because someone tells you to, but because it’s your pathway to the life you want to build. Ask questions. Think critically. And remember that with the privilege of education comes responsibility — to use your knowledge to serve others, to lift up your communities, to build a better Uganda.”
To educators and policymakers, he was equally pointed: “Don’t settle for systems that aren’t working. Measure outcomes honestly. Connect education to economic opportunity. But never lose sight of education’s higher purpose: to develop not just skilled workers, but thoughtful citizens who can lead their nation forward.”
Prof. Nawangwe’s Tribute To Prof Kajubi
Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe used his remarks to offer a deeply personal tribute to Prof. Kajubi — one grounded not in biographical summaries but in direct personal experience.
“I can personally testify to this, having had the rare opportunity to travel with him for two weeks,” Prof. Nawangwe told the gathering. “During that time, I witnessed firsthand the depth of his intelligence, his clarity of thought, and the remarkable way he shared knowledge. The experience was both inspiring and transformative.”
He described Prof. Kajubi as a man who valued intellectual freedom — someone who spoke his mind with confidence and conviction, and who carried a deep love for education and culture that was evident in everything he did.
Prof. Nawangwe reserved particular praise for the Education Policy Review Commission Report of 1989, which Prof. Kajubi authored as its principal writer. “Many committees have been formed since then, yet none has matched the depth and clarity of that report. Indeed, many of the reforms Uganda is pursuing today reflect the very recommendations he made decades ago.”
The observation carries a particular poignancy at a moment when Uganda’s universities are in the midst of the most significant curriculum reform in a generation — the shift to competence-based education and training that NCHE has mandated for all institutions by 2027. That many of the principles underlying those reforms were articulated by Kajubi in 1989 suggests that Uganda has, in some respects, been a generation late in acting on its own best thinking.
Prof. Nawangwe also expressed gratitude to the United States for its sustained development partnership with Uganda, telling the departing Ambassador directly: “The United States remains one of Uganda’s most significant development partners. We do not take this support for granted, and we remain committed to ensuring that it is utilized effectively.”
The Prof Kajubi Legacy
Prof. William Senteza Kajubi’s story is one that deserves to be better known among Uganda’s current generation of university students. In 1952 — at a time when the idea of an African scholar at an American university was genuinely extraordinary — Kajubi crossed the Atlantic on a Fulbright Scholarship and returned with both knowledge and a vision for what Ugandan education could become.
He served as Vice Chancellor of Makerere University twice. He shaped the country’s education curriculum at a foundational level. And in 1989, he produced the policy document that, decades later, continues to inform how Uganda thinks about education reform.
Ambassador Popp noted what he called the likely non-coincidence that both Fulbright and Kajubi shared the first name William — a small detail that drew warm laughter from the audience but also captured something real about the partnership the lecture series celebrates.
The Fulbright Programme And What It Represents
The lecture also served as a reminder of what the Fulbright programme has meant for Uganda and what it continues to offer. Ambassador Popp described its founding principle as simple but profound: that mutual understanding between peoples leads to a more peaceful and prosperous world.
He was careful to frame the exchange as genuinely bidirectional. When American scholars come to Uganda, they learn from Ugandans. When Ugandan scholars go to the United States, they bring Ugandan perspectives that enrich American institutions. The value flows in both directions — and the networks of collaboration built through that exchange, he noted, last lifetimes.
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Popp connected that milestone to a reaffirmation of the country’s commitment to global partnerships and the exchange of ideas across borders — with the Fulbright programme as one of the clearest expressions of that commitment.
A Closing Thought For Students
For the students in the room — and for the wider Campusbee community reading this — the Kajubi-Fulbright Lecture offered something worth holding onto: a reminder that the education you are currently pursuing is not merely a transaction. It is, as both Ambassador Popp and Prof. Nawangwe framed it, a tool for transformation — of your own life, your community, and potentially your country.
Prof. Kajubi proved it in 1952 when he boarded a plane for the United States with nothing but his intellect and his ambition. The lecture that bears his name is an annual invitation to every Makerere student to take that example seriously.
