It’s easy to give up after one or two rejections, but not for twenty-three-year-old Judith Amutuhire. When she completed A’level in 2019, she applied for a government scholarship to do a bachelor of science in electrical engineering at Makerere University.

But Amutuhire, who scored 15 points at A’level, was rejected. She then applied for several private scholarship schemes but was rejected again.   

Since the Government had each time she applied given scholarships to applicants who had more points than hers, she sought state sponsorship through a diploma scheme.

Amutuhire, who placed Makerere as her first university of choice in her applications for the undergraduate course, did not include this institution in her requests for diploma programmes to improve her chances.

Judith Amutuhire

“I put other government universities because I thought Makerere had rejected me. I thought it takes the best. But I still didn’t get a government scholarship,” she says.

But when she applied to Makerere for the same course in 2021 through a private scheme on recommendation from her grandmother – the breadwinner in her family – she was admitted.

“I joined as a private student around September in 2021 and commuted from Naalya to Makerere (over 1okm) every day because my grandmother did not have hostel fees,” Amutuhire says. “It was already a struggle,”

Rare opportunity

What she did know, though, was that the COVID-19 pandemic which closed universities in 2020 had opened a window for her to get a government scholarship.

Because all educational institutions were closed in 2020 and there were no A’level graduates that year, in August 2022, public universities invited applications for government scholarships from anyone who completed A’level no later than 2018.

These universities even lowered requirements for accessing government scholarship schemes so that students like Amutuhire can qualify. But there were conditions for applicants: first, qualifying current students would have to restart their programmes as first-years. Second, there was a likelihood that students would be asked to abandon existing programmes for new ones.

So, Atumuhire who would be a second-year student now is in her a first-year of study for the electrical engineering course. “I am repeating the first year but that doesn’t matter. What matters is studying without worry that I will miss exams and have to commute from home to university,” Amutuhire, who resides in the university’s Complex Hall and is her class students’ representative, says.

She is not alone. According to the Makerere University academic registrar, Buyinza Mukadasi, a significant part of the government-sponsored students admitted last year were second-year students and have restarted their programmes.

Others have switched courses and are now first-years (in 2022). The list of government-sponsored students admitted to Makerere University for the 2022/23 academic year features nearly 1500 students. This is less than the number of government-sponsored students it admits annually, mainly A’level graduates, by around 500.   

“These are miracle students. They are so many,” Mukadasi says. “There has been mobility between courses and many second-year students have returned to the first year to benefit from the government scholarships,”

STRUGGLING WITH TUITION

Like Amutuhire, a twenty-one-year-old female student, who asked to remain anonymous, has also received a government scholarship at Makerere. She was admitted to Makerere for a biomedical engineering programme through the private sponsorship scheme in 2021 but only did two papers for her end-of-semester two exams in August this year (2022) because she had not paid all her tuition.

“I was going to give up school. I applied for the government scholarship before the end of the exams,” she says. “It has taken the tuition burden off my parents,”

She is also now in her first year in the same programme instead of her second year. Similarly, twenty-two-year-old Simon Kyaira who would have been in the second year of his bachelor of arts in education (Literature and English) programme at Makerere, is now in his first year.

Kyaira, who is his class representative, had not paid all his tuition before the end of semester two of the first year. His parents, he says, struggled with raising his tuition and that they had regretted sending him to the university in 2021 instead of a year later after completing his A’level.

Simon Kyaira

“I consider the one year I spent at the university before getting this scholarship as an orientation and learning period,” Kyaira who got 15 points at A’level and now resides in Mitchel Hall, says.

“There is nothing as good as studying without worries about tuition and the fear of being disturbed in the exam room for non-payment of tuition,”

Twenty-three-year-old Loy Achola, who would have been in the second year of her bachelor of science in electrical engineering through a private scheme since she joined in 2021, is now in the first year in the same programme as a government-sponsored student. Like her peers, tuition was a source of great worry for her. For instance, when she was still a private student, she paid tuition two days before the second-semester exams in August this year.

“I don’t have to call my parents for tuition again. Education is a gradual process. You can go back to a lower class and still get what you want.

The university indicated it wanted students with 17 points to apply for my programme but that didn’t stop me from applying even when I had 14 points,” Achola, who resides in Africa Hall, says. “I feel safe residing within the university now,”

Twenty-year-old Fred Ssegawa is among the students who have switched academic programmes after receiving government scholarships. Even as he did his software engineering programme second-semester exams in August as a private student, Ssegawa, who scored 13 points A’level, knew that he would most likely move to a new course as a first-year student. He was offered a bachelor of science in education with Mathematics and Physics as his main subjects as a government-sponsored student.

Huge demand

Mukadasi says the fact there were students who completed A’level as far back as 2018 but had not joined university and some current students have restarted their programmes or switched courses to get government scholarships highlights two things: several students still miss out on university education due to financial constraints and there is a huge unmet need for university education.

“There are more qualifying students than the number of government scholarship slots. This shows many students still struggle to complete their courses as private students due to financial reasons,” he adds. “The Government made a good decision to admit even if there are no fresh graduates from A’level,”

Fred Ssegawa

Across public universities, the Government sponsors 4000 undergraduate and diploma students through national and district quotas, mature entry and affirmative schemes like sports and disability. Makerere, the country’s largest public university, takes around 2,000 of these students, while Kyambogo University admits about 1,000.

The other public universities like Gulu and Busitema share the reminder 1,000, each taking between 100 and 200 or slightly more sometimes. Although the number of students each of the nine public universities has admitted isn’t known yet, given what Makerere and few other universities have admitted, the number might have reached nearly 4000 even without fresh A’level graduates.

For instance, Gulu has admitted 230 government-sponsored students this academic year. Records from the university academic registrar’s office show that seven of the government-sponsored students were current students, who have restarted their courses as first-years. One current student has changed the programme and is in their first year of study.

A total of 102 students out of 720 admitted by Lira University in 2022 are government-sponsored. Two of the government-sponsored undergraduates were current students, who have now restarted their bachelor of science in community psychology and psychotherapy and midwifery, according to the university’s academic registrar, Geoffrey Angela.

“When we called for applications from students who graduated from Senior Six over the past three years, some people said we wouldn’t get them, but we have admitted a significant number of students,” Angela says. “This means there is always a number of students who don’t get to universities each year for financial reasons and others,”

Cancelling admissions

A similar situation has occurred at Busitema University, which has admitted around 1600 students – about half the number it admits annually. Of these, around 150 are usually government-sponsored students.

The government-sponsored students Busitema has admitted this academic year, according to the academic registrar, Lilian Gimuguni, include formerly current students who have restarted their programmes and those who have switched courses.

“These students have had to cancel their previous admissions because the Government didn’t give scholarships to students who were already admitted. Some of these students were on the verge of dropping out as private students,” she adds. “We will know all government students after they have all registered. Interestingly, many people waited for an opportunity like this one to join university,” she adds.

But students didn’t change programmes alone, but universities as well. For instance, Kyambogo University has admitted a couple of government-sponsored students who were early this year in the second semester of their first year of study as private students at universities like Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

“They terminated their programmes and other universities after getting government slots in Kyambogo where they are restarting their programmes,” the university’s senior public relations officer, Reuben Twinomujuni, says. “Some were here (Kyambogo) in the second year, but have terminated their programmes and started afresh.”

This year, however, public universities have admitted half or slightly more than half the numbers they admit each year.

Entry barrier

A 2012 study published in the Makerere Journal of Higher Education – a publication of the East African School of Higher Education Studies and Development at Makerere University – shows that free primary and secondary education has contributed to a surge in demand for higher education in Uganda and other parts of Africa over the years. Look at the graphic for enrolment levels in primary, secondary and higher institutions of learning.

The rise in demand for higher education has not, however, kept pace with funding for public universities whose mainstay is tuition. A lack of alternative revenue streams has kept public universities from expanding infrastructure to accommodate more students and probably offer scholarships.

“We are making an effort to expand the university so we can probably admit more students. The demand is certainly bigger than we can take,” Mukadasi says.

Tuition, as the study shows, is an entry barrier into higher education for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, which hardens inequalities.

The student loan scheme stats also tell a story of the rising demand for higher education and how Ugandans have probably failed to access this level of education due to financial obstacles.

Over 12,700 undergraduate degree and diploma students have been offered student loans since 2014 when the scheme was launched, statistics from the Higher Education Student Financing Board show.

But the scheme targets mainly science students, and applicants fail to get these loans over failure to meet the requirements.

As a result, there are only over 270,000 Ugandans in higher institutions of learning which the National Council for Higher Education puts down to the “prohibitive cost of university education for many Uganda’s poorest students”

Amutuhire says she feels delighted to join this number of Ugandans in higher institutions of learning and that the scholarship presents an opportunity for her to accomplish her goals.

“The university that had rejected me has welcomed me with a government scholarship,” she adds. “It’s a challenge to work harder,”