Governor Philip Mitchell (1935-40) expanded academic learning in secondary and higher education. In 1936 he appointed a commission led by Earl De La Warr to make recommendations for higher education.[1]
His vision of a higher college, which which could later become the University of East Africa producing African graduates, who would be the leaders of the African people became a reality when the Duke of Gloucester laid the foundation stone of the Makerere buildings on 3rd November 1938. [2]
The late Prof. William Senteza Kajubi, then a P.5 pupil, who after marching 7miles from Mackay Memorial School in Nateete with his schoolmates, was privileged to bear witness to the cutting of the first sod for the Main Administration Building (at the then Makerere College) by His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester noted that the message from His Majesty King George VI on this occasion was
“The College will afford splendid opportunities for service and advancement especially for African men and women of which I am sure they will eagerly avail themselves”
Prof. Kajubi shared this during a colourful ceremony to unveil a bust erected at the College of Education and External Studies (CEES) in his honour on 20th December 2010.
[1] Sanderson Beck(2010), ETHICS OF CIVILIZATION Volume 16 Mideast & Africa 1700-1950, ISBN 978-0-9822488-2-9
[2] Robert Frost (1902), pp 93., ENIGMATIC PROCONSUL: Sir Philip Mitchell and the Twilight of Empire, The Radcliffe Press.
