Ordinarily, higher education should transform the student. Transformation refers to the development of high order subject and generic competences as a consequence of the university experience. The current discourse on generic competences, especially in the African context, focuses largely on the end (generic competences to be developed) rather than the means or process (how to develop the generic competences). Relatedly, the discussion on the subject treats generic competences as general and does not give insights into whether the priority attached to generic competences varies across disciplines. It is against this backdrop that the paper set out to identity the generic competences which are aligned with dental surgery and nursing education at Makerere University in Uganda. The paper further delved into the strategies for developing generic competences among medical students. Data for the paper was collected from dental surgery and nursing academics using interviews. The resultant data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that problem solving, lifelong learning and interpersonal competences are aligned with life sciences. The utilitarian nature of life sciences, the rapidly changing mode of diseases and the attendant treatment options, and the highly social nature of the life sciences explicate this apparent alignment. The findings further revealed that the university employs three approaches to develop generic competences: problem-based learning, conducting generic course units, and role modelling. Therefore, it can be inferred that the generic competences to be developed on a particular academic discipline and the approaches used to develop them are a curriculum issue.

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发展生命科学的通用能力：乌干达马凯雷雷大学卫生科学学院的不为人知的故事

通常，高等教育应该改变学生。转型是指大学经验带来的高级学科和通用能力的发展。当前关于通用能力的论述，特别是在非洲背景下，主要侧重于最终目标（要开发的通用能力），而不是手段或过程（如何发展通用能力）。相关地，关于该主题的讨论将通用能力视为一般能力，而没有深入了解通用能力的优先级是否在各个学科之间有所不同。在这种背景下，本文着手确定与乌干达马凯雷雷大学的牙科手术和护理教育相一致的通用能力。本文进一步研究了在医学生中发展通用能力的策略。该论文的数据是通过访谈从牙科手术和护理学者那里收集的。使用主题分析对所得数据进行分析。研究结果表明，解决问题，终身学习和人际交往能力与生命科学是一致的。生命科学的功利性，疾病的迅速变化和随之而来的治疗选择，以及生命科学的高度社会性，都使这种明显的一致性变得复杂。调查结果进一步表明，大学采用三种方法来发展通用能力：基于问题的学习，进行通用课程单元和角色建模。因此，