This article was first published in the New Vision on April 21, 2021
By Conan Busingye
Public universities in the country will gradually reduce the number of undergraduate students should the Cabinet approve the recommendations made by its experts. Cabinet assembled a team of experts to study issues affecting higher education in Uganda and one of its recommendations was that universities reduce undergraduate numbers. The report was submitted to the Government last year. However, Makerere University, which has the highest number of students, will not phase out all its undergraduate programmes as had been speculated. Some of the undergraduate programmes were, however, phased out recently.
This was revealed by the First Lady, Janet Museveni, who is also the education minister, in an exclusive interview. While discussing matters of Makerere University ahead of the institution’s 100-year anniversary, Mrs Museveni said: “Makerere will not phase out all the students on the undergraduate programmes.”
“What Makerere University is doing may have been misunderstood. The transformation of Makerere University into a research-led university will not entirely throw out undergraduate courses. It is merely adjusting the ratios of undergraduate and postgraduate enrolment.
“The recommended ratio for a research-led university is that at least 30% of the total enrolment should be graduate students.
“The plan, therefore, is to have a phased reduction in the number of undergraduate students and an increase in the enrolment of postgraduate students.
“I have learned of plans to have 15,000 undergraduate students and 10,000 postgraduate students by the end of the year 2030, which is the end of their Strategic Plan period 2020–2030. You can note that the number of undergraduate students will still be higher than the post-graduates. Therefore, Makerere University will not eliminate undergraduate programmes,” Mrs Museveni said.
Details of the interview that was done at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi district last Saturday will run in tomorrow’s New Vision.
The White Paper
Government experts, in the White Paper that will be tabled before Cabinet, proposed: “Public universities should progressively reduce the number of undergraduate students and increase that of graduate students and postgraduate students.”
The White Paper comes at a time when the Government is drafting a policy for higher education, which will be tabled before Cabinet soon.
“Should the Cabinet approve this recommendation, fewer students will be admitted in public universities,” the state minister for higher education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, said.
“However, in case Cabinet approves this recommendation, this will be implemented in a gradual manner,” he added.
Muyingo said there should be no cause for worry since there are private universities and a proposal to have a joint admission (public and private universities) is being proposed. He said some public universities will have a higher number of undergraduate students than others during the implementation of the policy.
Experts’ Recommendations
The experts, in their report, wrote: “The Government should also adopt centralised admissions for all undergraduate programmes, to both public and private institutions of higher education as opposed to the current individualised control of admissions.”
This will almost be like the secondary schools’ selection process, which is centrally coordinated by a team from the Government.
The experts based their recommendation on the fact that many universities in the country have similar academic programmes.
Under the recommended policy, the experts said the capacity of every public university to teach programmes will be checked. There will be entry exams for all university courses to ensure that there is quality education.
The paper, which was written by a team of renowned personalities headed by Prof. Frederick Kayanja, adds that this will also help the Government to regulate the number of students who join the system and the number of graduates who enter the labour market.
“This will help to manage the human resource imbalance in the country,” the experts said, adding that they want solve the problem of some sectors having many unemployed graduates and others with a deficit.
Background
At first, the policy move was only meant for Makerere University, but the experts, in their White Paper, proposed that it is rolled out in all universities.
The 2006-2007 McGregor Visitation Committee to Public Universities recommended that Government gradually reduces the admission of Senior Six leavers to humanities programmes in public universities and increase the admissions of those doing sciences to at least 40%. This was in line with the Government agenda of promoting sciences.
They had also proposed the introduction of the pre-entry examinations for all courses in universities to improve quality. Currently, Makerere and Uganda Christian universities subject students to pre-entry exams before admission for the bachelor of laws programme. This recommendation has come up again in the final report to Cabinet.
What Experts, Students Say
Makerere University had already decided to gradually reduce the number of undergraduate students starting with the next academic year (starting in July 2021).
The vice-chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, says this will help the university focus more on research and innovation. The plan is also to increase graduates’ admissions.
The university plans to have a 10% annual cut on the number of undergraduates admitted under the private sponsorship scheme.
Makerere University usually admits 14,000 private undergraduate students each academic year out of about 16,000 applications.
The former director for higher education, Elizabeth Gabona, said this proposal has been in the pipeline for many years, and finally, “It is good that it is now coming up. It will allow some public universities to focus on research and innovation strongly.”
She added: “As a country, it is good that we are conscious of what is happening around the world. This is the direction they have taken.”
She, however, cautioned: “We must make sure that we know the areas where we need more undergraduates and make sure that they are supported.”
Rose Naigaga, a Senior Six student, who hopes to do bachelor of social sciences at Makerere University, said the move is good for the country, “but the Government should be careful not to just relegate us to private universities.”
Her concern is that there are only about 10 public universities compared to the 40 private ones.
