Makerere University transformed into a collegiate university in 2011. This created the College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS), formerly the Faculty of Science (established in 1927) as one of the 9 constituent colleges. CoNAS is proud to be at the heart of this great university, with a community of more than 1,000 students and over 200 staff members. There are two schools under CoNAS; School of Biosciences (SBS) and School of Physical Sciences (SPS). The schools are further divided into 7 departments; Biochemistry & Sports Sciences, Chemistryy, Geology & Petroleum Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences. The college departments handle varied areas of specialty in teaching, research and innovations.
CoNAS is the cradle of basic sciences providing a foundation for all applied sciences offered at Makerere University. The mandate of the College of Natural Sciences is to carryout teaching, research and extension services in the basic sciences, namely biochemistry, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, zoology, genetics and sports science. In its strategy as a College, the mandate of CoNAS is defined by its general functions including:
To be a thought leader of knowledge generation for societal transformation and development
To create and impart knowledge in basic and applied sciences to society through training, research and extension services for development
The College in pursuit of its mandate is guided by the five core values of Makerere University listed below:
The College of Natural Sciences presented a total of 268 students including 17 PhDs, 22 Masters (4 female, 18 male) and 229 undergraduates (72 female, 157 male). Of these, a total of 5 students (1 female, 4 male) graduated with First Class degrees. Eight students attained PhD in Mathematics, the highest number of PhD graduates from a single department in the 100-year history of Makerere University. The students were sponsored by the SIDA Bilateral Programme, 2015-2022, project 316 ‘Capacity Building in Mathematics and its Applications. Since 2015, the Project led by Prof. John Mango has sponsored 21 PhD students.