Africa-Press – Uganda. Leaders of students at four public universities have given the National Council forHigher Education (NCHE) two weeks to accredit all courses it brands as “expired” or risk mass demonstrations at its Kampala headquarters.
Makerere University’s Guild President Robert Maseruka and his Kyambogo University counterpart, Mr Edrine Wafula, said the statutory regulator has no basis not to accredit courses yet students each year contribute Shs20,000 to the Council.
“[The] NCHE, I don’t think you want to know what will happen if I converge all students and [affected] alumni [from various institutions] to your offices … you don’t know what it means,” said Maseruka, who accused NCHE of defrauding students.
Vice chancellors of named institutions denied teaching expired courses, explaining that the Council had misrepresented degree and diploma programmes that had either been restructured, merged or scrapped.
They said they had submitted other courses for review in line with accreditation requirements provided under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001, as amended in 2006, and were awaiting an already delayed NCHE decision.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Council said little about the origin of the problem or its counter-accusations, and instead tasked affected institutions to submit pending programmes for accreditation by November.
It also pointed out that the responsibility to ensure a course being offered is accredited lies with the institution.
However, the Makerere guild president faulted NCHE of management flaws and being “unserious”.
Maseruka was flanked by his Mbarara University of Science and Technology counterpart, Mr Bill Clinton Nasaasira, the association Speaker Peterson Kanyesigye and Kabale University Guild President Drake Owoyesigire.
“We cannot afford to have a course that is being advertised by this universities, admit students and certify them at the end of the day [as graduates], provide certificates that they have graduated and at the end of the day you tell us that these same courses are expired,” he said.
He called upon MPs to intervene.
“It is unless you [MPs} come out and we join hands together and make sure the courses that expired are now accredited [that we shall all be safe],” he noted.
The Board of the NCHE is chaired by Kyambogo Vice Chancellor Prof Eli Katunguka and Guild President Wafula said he was surprised to discover that the university was among those with the highest number of “expired” programmes.
Unsa and MUST’s Nasaasira said the information from NCHE will help them decide whether they should
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