Mindset change is the core to driving development agendas in the developing economies especially in today’s 21st century. In the Daily Monitor dated Monday, March 14, 2022, page 12 under the “PDM: Prioritize Mindset Change” the writer Richard Ssewakiryanga states that “People with a growth mindset will appreciate that their basic qualities can be improved and cultivated through their own efforts, strategic interventions and actions, and the help of others. The writer further states that “when people believe they can develop themselves, they will develop a passion for learning and will not be pre-occupied with hiding their weaknesses but recognize that these weaknesses are there to be overcome. Interestingly the writer also speaks of fixed mindsets where people or institutions believe that their qualities are curved in stone creating an urgency to prove oneself over and over. This was an interesting read especially looking at were Uganda is at in today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution? Where we must be? And what it will take to get to where we need to be?
Most developing countries in this 21st century continue to embrace an education system that continuously leaves its citizens in the methods, strategies and solutions of the 1990s without creative minds, lost in the job market and desperate to survive. However the rest of the world is not waiting for the developing economies who continue to remain stuck in fixed mindsets. The rest of the world is fast growing and moving forward into the future of speedy changing digital technological growth and expansion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with; advancements in the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, big data, robotics, 3D printing which among others have become the core global activities and drivers of growth, transformation and inclusivity.
If the developing economies fully embrace; individually, collectively and institutionally the growth mindset and deliberately act upon a robust training and skilling initiative in education, they have the highest potential to be creators and innovators of the unthinkable tech innovations the world has never thought of. Innovations with improved safety, productivity and sustainability management systems that must be rooted firm in all spheres of the economies. For instance Africa is a rich continent so tapping into these riches with creative and innovative minds will without a doubt drive life impacting innovations and solutions to world problems that will transform lives across continents.
Uganda continues to meet its fulfillment of the 2030 Global Sustainable Development Goals and in the country’s initiatives is one key factor that has the power to drive all the other factors which is the SDG 4 of Quality Education and under section 4B states; “Substantially expand globally the numbers of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developing countries, small islands developing states and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, inclusive vocational training and information and communication technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries to be fulfilled by 2020.” One needs to ask if in 2022…. our mindsets have change from fixed to growth mindsets to realize an all-inclusive Uganda through education among others including; ICT and scientific programmes that meet the current direction of the 4th Industrial revolution?
In Uganda’s education system are institutions that are already transforming the nation towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution with learners…. Learning tech, applying tech, sustaining tech and rooting it firm in respective public and private institutions. At UTAMU, technology and the advancement of the digital space took root right from inception in 2012 with study programmes backboned on technology and management science where learners continue to acquire knowledge and skills needed to; promote and improve the digital space and engage as solution providers to digital challenges. Student opportunities are high because of the wealth of knowledge and community engagement opportunities that continue to define and refine their growth mindsets to appreciate and embrace the reality that the world is tech driven and they as students must be knowledgeable and skilled for the abundance of opportunities that the digital space is offering.
The School of Computing and Engineering at UTAMU is the core of innovation activities where learners have been taught, trained and mentored to be great creative thinkers and innovators in programmes offered at various levels of Masters, Postgraduate Diplomas, Bachelors and Diplomas in; Information Systems and Technology, Computer Security and Forensics, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Mobile Computing and Communications among other life transforming programmes found on www.utamu.ac.ug . Further UTAMU has ushered into the world knowledge and skill. To experience a tip of the ice burg is Ochen Solomon Eluid’s innovation to save lives which is being watched on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVaF7z_-jTU in which he speaks of “A Criminal Security System Program” from the UTAMU Innovation Hub.
The School is endowed with knowledgeable, skilled and experienced lecturers headed by Prof. Fred Paul Mark Jjunju, a professor of computer science and a fellow of the UK higher Academy, an active member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the IEEE and IET with more than 10 years’ experience in software engineering, AI-IOT and chemical sensor design and for more https://utamu.ac.ug/staff/pmjjunju waiting for you at UTAMU.
I invite the public to explore the opportunities at UTAMU, a university that long embraced the growth mindset and is driving learners to be contributors of the digitalization space rather than waiting to be digitalized and left behind.
Let us encourage a growth mindset to be part of and to embrace developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and staying abreast with the developed economies….. It’s never too late to catch up!
