Africa-Press – Uganda. STUDENTS LOAN SCHEME
The list for students who have been admitted on the Student’s Loan Scheme will be released next week, on Tuesday.
The Higher Education Students Financing Board committed itself on its Twitter account on Thursday. The list will cover students who have been admitted this year, on diploma and degree programmes; in 20 Chartered Universities and 36 tertiary institutions.The Government had extended the loan application process, three times. At the time, the state minister for higher education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, explained that the extension was necessary, “To help so many students who had been left out, to be covered.”Dr Muyingo explained that the Government has in the past managed to award several students with students loans, “A reason so many other students should take them seriously.” In the past, he explained that over 10,000 students, 130 degree programmes, and 76 undergraduate diploma programmes, “Have benefited from this Government initiative.”Genesis of application extension The Students Loan Scheme opened for applications to the 7th Cohort of the Higher Education Students’ Loan Applications. At the time, all Public and Private Institutions had opened up and were admitting students. The initial deadline was July 31, 2020, which was subsequently extended to August 31, 2020, because many higher education institutions had taken along with the admission process due to the resultant effect of Covid-19 on the workforce.The Board decided to further extend this deadline to this week; September 30, 2020, for Degree Applicants and October 15, 2020, for Diploma applicants to cater to those who didn’t have enough time because of the delayed admission process and others from border districts which had been closed.Wanyama however, explained, “In this period leading to today’s deadline for degree programmes, we have been receiving appeals from applicants, the public and institutions concerning various challenges to the application process.”He explained that there were appeals from the Joint Admissions Committee for public universities; that releases the supplementary lists for students joining on diploma programmes, had not yet conducted the admission process.Secondly, Kyambogo University too had not yet completed the admission process, some applicants in border districts could not travel to access different offices required for completion of the application process. More so, Wanyama explains that some schools which had been closed due to COVID-19 had not yet opened and therefore some requirements such as pass slips and recommendations could not be easily accessed. He added, “The Board consequently wrote to the JAB and Kyambogo University which responded, appealing for special considerations.”Kyambogo University, according to the letter seen by New Vision, in its letter signed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Elly Katunguka-Rwakishaya, committed that Kyambogo University will release admissions in the week starting tomorrow October 1, 2020, and thus requested for a two weeks’ extension.More so, that Joint Admission Committee has confirmed that admissions will be concluded on October 16, 2020, and requested for a two weeks’ extension for Diploma applicants to comfortably apply to the Loan Scheme.
