{"id":49810,"date":"2023-05-24T13:54:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T13:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses"},"modified":"2023-05-24T15:20:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T15:20:35","slug":"mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses","title":{"rendered":"MPs want answers on expired courses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>The House yesterday demanded an \u201curgent\u201d official explanation and government action to resolve the reported saga of universities and tertiary institutions teaching \u201cexpired\u201d courses.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cexpired\u201d has gained news currency in Uganda after the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) used it on its website to describe a plethora of running academic courses it has not accredited.<\/p>\n

Adversely named institutions have since defended the listed degree, diploma and higher certificate programmes, describing the purported expirations mislabels since some of them had been restructured, merged or renamed after modifying the content.<\/p>\n

Others, according to officials of multiple universities, were under review by the statutory body that had baptised the courses as expired.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers during a sitting yesterday said reports that some foreign universities were turning Ugandan graduates who studied the \u201cexpired\u201d programmes away, raised the prospects of a wider implication of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we need to get very clear information on this floor of Parliament and the government tells us [the] steps being taken to address these cases because what we need now is to reassure Ugandans that indeed those who are educated, their courses are okay,\u201d Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf they aren\u2019t okay, what can they do? How do you make a declaration as a country that our courses are expired?\u201d<\/p>\n

The anxiety among the legislators, reflecting a national mood, dovetails with revelations by some Ugandan graduates that universities in South Africa and Europe had declined to admit them for graduate studies on ground that their undergraduate courses were \u201cexpired\u201d, according to NCHE listing.<\/p>\n

According to information on the statutory regulator\u2019s website, more than 2,000 programmes across universities and tertiary institutions in Uganda are \u201cexpired\u201d, meaning; \u201cinactive\u201d, meaning unauthorised to be taught; and \u201cunder review\u201d, implying pending accreditation decision.<\/p>\n

Academic programmes are labelled expired when not re-accredited within specified legal time \u2013 within five years for bachelors and master\u2019s degrees and 10 years for doctoral studies.<\/p>\n

Mr Tayebwa at yesterday\u2019s sitting directed that the Ministry of Education furnishes Parliament with a formal explanation on how the country got itself in such a fix.<\/p>\n

The demand comes a day after half-a-dozen vice chancellors told this newspaper that the problem may not be widespread. They blamed NCHE for delaying to accredit programmes submitted for review.<\/p>\n

NCHE records show that more than 2,000 programmes being taught in both public and private institutions expired five to 13 years ago.<\/p>\n

Mr Asuman Basalirwa (JEEMA, Bugiri Municipality MP), a former guild president at Makerere University, sought explanation from the Attorney General, the principal government legal advisor, on likely legal ramifications of \u201cexpired\u201d programmes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of accreditation of courses and effect of studying a course which hasn\u2019t been accredited is a legal issue. It is a legal issue that has been canvassed in courts of law, I want to request that the Attorney General takes interest in that matter so that as they come here [report to Parliament], we have a comprehensive report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opposition Chief Whip John Baptist Nambeshe (NUP, Manjiya) demanded that all parties responsible for the mess be held accountable, but provided no specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a huge embarrassment to Uganda that foreign universities are rejecting Uganda degrees. The truth of the matter is that the culprits are known, the statutory regulator of this sector is NCHE and they have been sleeping on the job,\u201d he said, citing the oversight obligation the law imposes on the regulator.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd even the university managements have failed?\u201d Mr Nambeshe said.<\/p>\n

WHAT IT MEANS<\/b><\/p>\n

Academic programmes are labelled expired when not re-accredited within specified legal time \u2013 within five years for bachelors and master\u2019s degrees and 10 years for doctoral studies.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The House yesterday demanded an \u201curgent\u201d official explanation and government action to resolve the reported saga of universities and tertiary institutions teaching \u201cexpired\u201d courses. The word \u201cexpired\u201d has gained news currency in Uganda after the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) used it on its website to describe a plethora of running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-49810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nMPs want answers on expired courses - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The House yesterday demanded an \u201curgent\u201d official explanation and government action to resolve the reported saga of univ ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MPs want answers on expired courses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The House yesterday demanded an \u201curgent\u201d official explanation and government action to resolve the reported saga of univ ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-24T13:54:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-24T15:20:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/05\/sm_1684925396.454598.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MPs want answers on expired courses\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-24T13:54:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-24T15:20:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\"},\"wordCount\":628,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/05\/sm_1684925396.454598.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/mps-want-answers-on-expired-courses\",\"name\":\"MPs want answers on expired courses - 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