• The Directorate of Planning and Development have the mandate to steer the University into a systematic planning process and coordinate all planning activities in the University. The directorate provides training and guidance to all the faculties, institutes, schools and departments in all planning matters.

• Initiation, coordination, preparation and production of short, medium and long term plans as well as formulation of strategic goals and coordination of the implementation of plans monitoring and evaluation.
• Determination of the University Budget priorities and deliverables.
• Development of comprehensive strategies for -Resource mobilization and marketing.
• Guiding the Process of Academic Planning which includes academic programmes planning especially the assessment of economic recurrent implications of all new programmes.
• Development of guidelines for coordination of all collaborative linkages with the industry, the private sector, national and foreign institutions.
• Coordination of the designing and development of the University Information and Communication Technology system and developing capacity for collection, processing, storage and maintenance of retrievable central database for guiding management decision making.
• Coordination of all development projects (local and donor funded) as well as monitoring the implementation of all programmes and projects. The directorate will have a donor coordination desk which will capture and develop a database on all donors activities running in the University.
• Interpretation of Government Planning and Other Policy frameworks on Education with particular reference to higher education, and liaison with the Government authorities and agencies.
• Initiation and or coordination of the implementation of diagnostic Research/Studies on the external and internal efficiency of the University.
• Annual Reviews: The University has to regularly review its operations and activities against the set objectives. This review will involve performance assessment in terms of plans implemented.
• Directorate has the role to guide all the University departments in producing Annual reports.
• Contributing to the Generation of business and preparing papers for the Planning and Development Committee of Council

(a) Academic focus

• Appraisal of new and on-going academic programmes and Market analysis
• Assessment of internal and external efficiencies
• Rationalization of establishments in academic departments

This includes academic programmes assessment for viability and their potential external efficiency, thereby involving both theoretical and practical market analysis for appraising new programmes for launching. The directorate will contribute to the control of duplication of programmes and courses through reviewing new programmes assessing their recurrent implications.

Assessment of pass and failure rates and examination retakes will be carried out by the Academic Registrar’s department in conjunction with the Directorate of Planning and Development.

Academic Planning also involves determination of optimality for all departments in terms of establishment posts and other physical resource needs such as teaching and practical workspace. It will make sure that all academic units adhere to the enrolment ceilings.

(b) Physical planning

The physical facilities planning will be coordinated and guided by the Directorate of Planning and Development in liaison with the Estates section of the University. It will be the responsibility of the Planning and Development Directorate to monitor and see to it that all physical plans are implemented according to plan.

(c) Statistical Information gathering and storage

For any meaningful planning there must be a basis and this basis is the baseline information. As the University sets to do academic and institutional development planning, it is imperative that data must be collected captured, stored, processed and maintained apart from constantly updating it.

The directorate will be responsible for data collection and creation of a central database. It will make sure that information flowing in from all academic units is collated, processed,stored and distributed to management in a form that can guide quick decision-making. There will therefore be a designated desk for the data management function, which will contribute to developing the Management Information System

(d) Performance Reviews

It is necessary for the University to regularly review its operations and activities against the set objectives. This review will involve monitoring and evaluation of all the plans implemented. The Planning and Development Directorate will be responsible for leading the production of the University Annual reports with a view of reporting the extent of achievements, challenges vis a viz the the set strategic goals and objectives, and devising new strategies for the way forward. This process will thus go along with monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of all planned activities.

e) Secretariat to the Planning and Development Committee of Council

The Planning and Development Directorate will in conjunction with the University Secretary’s Office provide Secretariat to the Planning and Development Committee. This includes generating business for the committee, taking follow-up actions and compiling reports.

The directorate will Champion educational advancement/Fund development and otherresources mobilization efforts.

(a) Resource expansion

Given that Government resource flow to the public Universities has continued to decline due to the ever increasing national demands,Gulu University has the challenge to identify and adopt survival strategies. The University should be in position to generate and mobilize supplementary resources. The Planning and Development Directorate shall therefore contribute to facilitate this effort by initiating fund-development activities and ensuring their successful implementation.

(b) Collaborative linkages with various stakeholders including the Alumni Donors and other partners.

Modern Universities thrive through collaboration with other organizations to exploit comparative advantages of the different institutions more effectively. The Planning and Development Directorate shall facilitate the collaborative efforts by initiating collaboration with other Universities, the donor community; linkage with the industry, the old students and other organizations for capacity building and widening career prospects and sources of funding through promoting effective networking within and outside the University.

Collaboration in terms of academic programmes, research projects, cultural endeavors,students/staff exchanges, seminar discussions will be promoted by initiating memoranda and development of general and specific guidelines on collaboration.

(c) Projects development

The Planning and Development Directorate will steer Projects development and management whereby guidance will be provided in the development of proposals, implementation monitoring and evaluation stages. The Planning and Development Directorate will provide guidance for the project activities and coordinate them. The directorate will ensure that the implementations of all donor funded projects are effectively coordinated. Monitoring and evaluation of projects will thus fall under the directorate.

(d) Benchmarking

It is important to benchmark at national regional and international levels if the University is to keep abreast with the global trends. Gulu University therefore needs to integrate an international intercultural and global dimension into the delivery of higher education, which will also help in expanding the scope for income generation for the University. The Directorate of Planning and Development should thus be in position to provide an “intelligence” aspect by taking Gulu University into the World through external/international searching and selling.

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