Prime
Namugongo, Kitende top university admissions
Kampala. St Mary’s SS, Kitende, and Uganda Martyrs SS, Namugongo, have topped the list of the number of students admitted to three public universities for the 2015/2016 academic year on government sponsorship.
Out of the 2,097 students that will enjoy State sponsorship at Muni, Kyambogo and Makerere universities, St Mary’s SS, Kitende, will take the majority 230 slots followed by Uganda Martyrs SS, Namugongo, with 86. King’s College Budo has 55 while Ntare School takes 45 students.
The list, which was released on Thursday, shows that Makerere will take the lion’s share (1,326), its Nakawa-based affiliate Makerere University Business School will admit 268 students, Muni University 72 slots while Kyambogo University has 431 students.
Mr Charles Ssentongo, the Makerere University academic registrar in charge of undergraduate students, on Thursday said Busitema, Gulu and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) hadn’t submitted their lists.
“The competition was tight because the available slots didn’t change from last year’s yet the performance in Senior Six results improved. The admission was done from individual universities,” Mr Ssentongo said on Thursday.
This followed the disbandment of the Public Universities Joint Admissions Board last year after a one John Manzi, a former student of Naalya SS, sued the institution on grounds that Public Universities Joint Admissions Board (Pujab) had thrown him out on the Bachelors of Law government sponsorship admission list.
Justice Yasin Nyanzi ruled in his favour, saying the university acted illegally by using Pujab as a foundation for denying Manzi admission since Makerere couldn’t show how the board was created to handle student admissions to public universities, hence labelling it an illegal entity.
The universities then had a public universities admissions consultative meeting this year which advised that admission committees of individual senates of the different public universities handle their students.
Mr Felix Opio, the MUST acting academic registrar, on Thursday told Daily Monitor that they have already done their admission and only candidates with triple As were considered because the competition was stiff.
“The cut-off points are very high. We have taken only 39 out of the 40 slots on government scholarship. We considered only those with triple As.”
The numbers
The government supports 3,000 students every year on government scheme for students joining public universities on merit. There is an additional 1,000 slots; 40 for sports people, 64 for persons with disabilities while districts take 896 through the quota system.
