Makerere University

Makerere University is Uganda's largest and most prestigious university. It was first established as a technical school in 1922, and in 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees of the University of London. It became an independent national university in 1970. It now has over 25,000 students, of whom some 3,000 are postgraduates.

Trivia

• A historic and controversial conference of African literature in English language (The first African Writers Conference) was held at Makerere University in 1962, to debate the state of post-colonial African literature. Those who attended includeded Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ezekiel Mphalele, Lewis Nkosi, Ngugi wa Thiongo (then known as James Ngugi) and Rajat Neogy. Several nationalist writers refused to acknowledge any literature written in non-African languages as being African literature.
• The renowned travel writer and novelist, Paul Theroux, was a lecturer in English at Makerere University in the 1970s.