New report uncovers 200 outdated courses in public universities

The government has in the latest findings established that five top public universities were found to be running a total of 222 courses that were not accredited by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE), out of the reviewed 692, the Daily Monitor has learnt.

The development could hinder affected students from securing jobs and or further studies using such qualifications.

The findings are contained in the 2022/23 Auditor General’s Report unveiled at Parliament on Tuesday.

 “Analysis of programmes from five universities revealed that out of the 692 programmes, only 332 (47 percent) were accredited, 138 (20 percent) had been sent to NCHE for accreditation while 222 (33 percent) were not accredited,” reads the report in part.

For instance, out of the 347 programmes reviewed at the Makerere University, only 149 had been accredited, 120 were not accredited while only 78 were under NCHE.

The sister institution of the aforementioned university, the Makerere University of Business Studies (Mubs) had only one programme out of the 43 reviewed in the reporting period under the NCHE, while only 27 programmes were accredited and 15 were not accredited.

Out of the 128 programmes at the Kyambogo University, 63 were not accredited, 45 were before the NCHE while only 20 were accredited.

A review done on the 93 programmes at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology, (MUST) established that 21 were not accredited, only 12 were under the NCHE while 60 were accredited in the reporting period by the Auditor General.

It was also found that out of the 81 programmes reviewed at the Gulu University, 76 were accredited, only two of those were under NCHE while three of them were not accredited.

In the course of reviewing the said programmes, auditors from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), observed that “the accounting officers attributed the delays in accreditation to the elaborate consultation processes with stakeholders as well as staffing challenges at the National Council for Higher Education.”

For remedial action, the Auditor General, Mr John Muwanga “advised the accounting officers to initiate the accreditation processes in time, to enable timely approvals by NCHE.”

The concern of institutions offering expired courses in the country came to the fore in May last year.

This later triggered panic among the citizenry, something that later saw Parliament during a plenary sitting chaired by the Deputy Speaker Mr Thomas Tayebwa direct the Ministry of Education to file a formal statement on the matter.

The matter had since gone ‘silent’ until early this week when the Auditor General released his findings about the aforementioned five universities that had courses not accredited on their list of those lectured to learners.

In reaction to the matter, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Mr Dennis Mugimba, stated that his ministry is handling the matter in conjunction with the line entity, the NCHE.

“The agency responsible for accrediting those courses in higher educational institutions is National Council for Higher Education and we are handling that process with them. As a ministry, we don’t get directly involved, we work with agencies, which is the National Council for Higher Education,” Mugimba said.

In five public universities, out of the 692 programmes, only 332 (47 percent) were accredited, 138 (20 percent) had been sent to NCHE for accreditation while 222 (33 percent) were not accredited.

The list