By Conan Businge
Aptech Computer Education, a tertiary institution which was established in 2000, has closed operations following a decision by the institution’s governing body. The decision was endorsed by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
The premises of the closed institution will now be taken over by ISBAT University.
New Vision has learnt that ISBAT University city campus obtained the accreditation to use the premises from the Uganda National Council for Higher Education last month.
The campus is located on Conrad Plaza on Entebbe Road.
The university will conduct its diploma programmes in ICT, along with professional development programmes in association with global partners and academies, such as VMWare Academy, EC-Council, RedHat Academy, Microsoft and many others.
The city campus will also be a Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board exam and coaching centre for some accredited certificate programmes for Senior Four leavers.
Aptech was established at a time when Uganda was in dire need of IT skills and IT professionals.
Mr. Varghese Mundamattam, a former World Bank advisor attached to Uganda, and the founder of both Aptech and ISBAT University, said: “The operation of Aptech was not making any economic sense for more than two years, and was heavily dependent on the financial support of promoters.”
Francis Ssebanyiiga, the former academic head at Aptech, said they had notified all students and their parents about the development.
When Uganda’s education sector is facing unprecedented crisis due to the prolonged lockdown, many schools and higher institutions are reported to be closing down operations and many teachers are leaving the profession for other gainful engagements for survival.
Ssebanyiiga said there is need for appropriate strategies to be laid by government to rescue the sector and save the young generation, which are the vast majority of the population from a complete disaster.
ISBAT University’s hybrid blended learning platform was accredited by NCHE in 2018 and was implemented as a value addition to the brick-and-mortar education system.
When the pandemic lockdown began in March 2020, it was just a switching over of the academic services on to the virtual mode.
