By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The Auditor General has revealed that five public Universities in Uganda are teaching 222 expired courses, annual audit report for the financial year ending June 2023 revealed
A Tuesday report by Auditor General, John Muwanga indicated that at Makerere University alone, 120 courses taught are expired. Others public universities also teach some expired courses. These include Kyambogo University (63(, Mbarara University of Science and Technology – MUST (21), Makerere University Business School – MUBS (15) and Gulu University (3).
“Analysis of programmes from 5 Universities revealed that out of the 629 programmes, only 332 were accredited, 138 had been sent to NCHE for accreditation, while 222 were not accredited,” Muwanga’s report read in parts.
The report comes barely less than seven months when media reported that over 1,400 courses taught in higher institutions of learning specifically universities were expired.
This was after two Makerere University graduates were denied admissions to higher degrees by some European Universities because their degrees had expired.
Statistics obtained from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in 2023, indicated that at least 1,470 programs had expired in the last five years but universities and tertiary institutions had continued to admit students on such programs.
NCHE Executive Director, Prof Mary Okwakol, however dismissed reports saying that the term “expired” had been misinterpreted and not used in accordance with the defined regulations of quality assurance for higher education universities and other tertiary institutions issued in 2008.
According to her, the term was used to indicate programmes that have reached the end of their accreditation period and therefore due for re-assessment.
The council later resolved to cease using the term “Expired” on programs that are due or overdue for reassessment and replaced it with “Review” on their website.
Despite the changes of the council, the new Auditor General report again raises public concerns on the quality assurance of universities and the quality of their produced graduates to compete in the global job market.
