Makerere-Berkeley Virtual Exchange

Makerere-Berkeley Virtual Exchange


This program is now completed.

In the summer of 2021, Engineering World Health is offering a virtual design program that brings together students from the United States and Uganda. The course focuses on low-resource design and engineering for healthcare in an international setting. Participants will work together in international teams.

Students from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and the University of California, Berkeley in California, USA, have the opportunity to work and learn together remotely throughout this course. Materials are curated by our team at EWH and our program partners. The course covers concepts for biomedical design, collaboration, ethics, and entrepreneurship as these topics relate to engineering for low-resource environments. Students will work independently through self-directed learning modules as well as collaborate virtually in groups to further develop design ideas and exchange knowledge. Teams are led by program mentors from Uganda or the US with significant engineering background and experience in low-resource hospitals to help them throughout this process.

Criteria: Participants must be students age 18+ currently attending Makerere University or UC Berkeley's Biodesign Immersion Experience (BIE).

Cost: Fee covered by sponsoring institution. Students do not need to make any payment.

Dates: The course runs on a six week timeline. June 7 - July 16.

Commitment: 6 hours/week, meet twice a week with your team and work independently 2-4 hours. Please be aware that meeting times need to accommodate varying time zones. US students should be available to meet in the mornings and Ugandan students should be available to meet in the evenings.

UC Berkeley BIE students: Sign Up Here.

Spaces for Makerere University students have been filled. Applications are closed for Makerere students.

At the end of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion. On request, EWH will gladly provide summary materials to present to your home university in support of any independent study credit you may seek.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you!