Busoga University to reopen after 6 years

Busoga University, which was closed six years ago, will reopen in August, according to the taskforce management committee which was appointed last June to oversee its establishment.

Prof John Tabuti, who heads the six-member committee, said there is a high probability that the university will reopen in the 2023/2024 academic year.

“The taskforce has already reviewed the programmes that existed at the university at the time it was closed, which aligned with the niche of technological innovation and value chain management,” Prof Tabuti said during an interview at the weekend.

“We have selected academic programmes in agricultural sciences, health, theology, education, and business management, and have also started the process of developing engineering programmes and handling others like infrastructure core policies, including the human resources manual, admissions policy, open, and distance learning policy,” he added.

Prof Tabuti also said they are currently working on the bills of quantities for the repair of the university buildings at Iganga, Kamuli, Bugiri and Jinja, after which they will issue a contract to do repairs and have the works completed by June.

Although land was earlier cited by the State Minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, as one of the factors delaying the operational process, Prof Tabuti said the university has seven plots of land, and all land-related issues have been sorted out.

“The trustees of Busoga University Limited, together with the Church of Uganda, signed transfer forms of the land to the Ministry of Education and Sports in January. Of the seven plots, three have been deposited with the Ministry of Education and Sports.

“Of the remaining four plots, one title was submitted to Jinja Municipality for renewal of the lease, while the last three are with Bank of Baroda with whom we have reached an agreement on the process of releasing them,” he added.

Land issue

Prof Tabuti is hopeful that by the end of this month, they will have transferred all land titles in the Bank of Baroda’s possession to the Ministry of Education and Sports.

For students who didn’t graduate by the time of the closure of the university, Prof Tabuti said they will graduate as soon as the university is reopened.

In a separate interview, Mr Muyingo, who is also the chairperson of the transition committee, said he is still waiting for the report from the taskforce committee to decide the next course of action.

Prof Tabuti said by June, they will hand over the report to him.

Background

      The university was founded in 1999 with affiliation to Busoga Diocese under the Church of Uganda. However, in 2017, its license was revoked by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), which cited the institution’s alleged lack of qualified staff, teaching of uncredited courses and awarding fake degrees to more than 1,000 students. The university was later handed over to the Ministry of Education and Sports to expedite its reopening as a public institution following a directive by President Museveni in 2018. Once it becomes operational, it will join Fort Portal-based Mountains of Moon University which achieved a similar milestone on July 1, 2022.