Prof. Balunywa led a team of three (3) people to attend an ORSEA meeting in Dar-es-salaam. The meeting was primarily to discuss the joint PhD programme in OR that was proposed by MUBS as part of effort to build capacity. The programme has been developed and will be finalized in Kampala in October before the ORSEA Conference. It is planned that the programme will be hosted at the university of Dar-es-salaam Business School which has the capabilities as of now to offer the programme.
During the meeting, it was agreed that each of the three business school will send at least two members of staff to Dar-es-salaam for a PhD programme. The programme is due to start in January of 2014 after approval by the different organs. The meeting also suggested that the different schools should start Masters programme in OR which will be the input into the PhD programme. The other MUBS members of the team included Mr. Moya Musa the Head of Department Business Computing and Dr. Isaac Nkote who is the treasurer of the ORSEA regional body.
Prof. Balunywa is one of the two Vice Presidents of the association. The meeting also discussed the upcoming conference that will be held in Entebbe Uganda and noted that the number of papers that were expected to be presented. ORSEA will be making 10 years in 2014, the Executive set up a committee to plan for the 10 years of ORSEA. It was noted that ORSEA was one of the successful international corporation among universities in the region and that a joint PhD programme was a sign of success. The Executive will meet in Uganda prior to opening of the 9th ORSEA Conference.