Kyambogo university to reduce bachelor’s programmes

________________

To enhance research, Kyambogo University says it plans to limit the number of Bachelor’s degree courses and focus more on master’s degree and doctorate programmes.

The PhDs, according to the university administration, are the people who do research under the supervision of their senior colleagues, publish and influence policy, and also their research can be commercialized.  

“When I came to this university in 2014, I discouraged emphasis on diplomas and many bachelors, and I was intentional about increasing the number of masters and doctorates,” vice chancellor, Prof Eli Katunguka says.

According to Katunguka, Kyambogo has 13 PhD programmes and about 48 master's and many more are being developed.

Since many teacher training institutions and vocational institutions are awarding diplomas, instead of competing, Katunguka says: “We phased out more than 67 diplomas which were wasting a lot of our time".

Though there is a need to learn English, Katunguka says courses such as Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Religious Studies, and Development Studies can be taught by other institutions. Noting that President Yoweri Museveni has urged public universities to focus on skill-based programmes instead of theoretical programmes to curb unemployment.

He was briefing about the preparations for Kyambogo University's 20th graduation ceremony in Kampala last week. 

Vice-President Jessica Alupo is expected to grace the graduation ceremony today, December 10, 2024.

Besides Kyambogo, Makerere University has also phased out some undergraduate programmes to spur research and enhance quality at the university.  

Makerere focuses on reducing the teaching load on staff, focusing on research, and eliminating duplication.

From December 10-13, a total of 11,721 graduands will receive degrees in various disciplines.  5,704 of these are males and 6,017 are females.

“This time we have many female students compared to males by a difference of 1,000. We shall be graduating eight PhD students and seven of these will be from the school of education and one from the faculty of science, who will be graduating with a PHD in sports science,” explained Katunguka.

Since Kyambogo emphasises the development of master’s degree programmes, Katunguka disclosed that 219 students will receive master’s degrees from different fields.

Statistics per day

Since the graduation will be conducted in a phased manner, according to the university administration, 3,146 students from the faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation, at the School of Management and Entrepreneurship will graduate on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, 2,699 students from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the School of Vocational Studies, the School of Art and Industrial Design, and the Faculty of Agriculture will graduate.

On Thursday, 3,242 students from the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Science, the School of Computing and Information Science, and the School of Built Environment will graduate.

2,634 students from the School of Education, Faculty of Engineering, Institute of Distance Education, and e-learning will graduate on Friday.

Student’s performance

About the overall performance, Katunguka said, Grace Rukwanzi from the School of Management and Entrepreneurship has emerged as the best with a CGPA of 4.90. She did a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Additionally, Justine Joel Okwang from the School of Computing and Information Science, emerged as the best-performing male student with a CGPA of 4.81. He studied a Bachelor of Information Technology and Computing.

“I commend the Government for supporting the university, and for allowing us to train these young people who are going to be an addition to a large workforce for this country,” Katunguka stated.

To graduands, Katunguka advised them to limit the people they are coming with since the invitation cards allow only two people. Stating that, prior, they had a challenge where a student coming from the village hired a bus and flooded the graduation premises.

Traffic routes

Kyambogo graduation traffic routes.

To enable graduands to move smoothly, Israel Wambesyo Wepukhulu, the Regional Traffic Officer of KMP East, urged all the general public to adhere to traffic guidelines as arraigned. Noting that failure to follow them, police will not hesitate to take action against such crimes.

Since the graduation will be conducted in phased manner, Wepukhulu said, each day, graduands will use a different sticker to access the university premises. The stickers will be in forest green, yellow, lemon green, and light green.

Wepukhulu disclosed: “Graduands who will be using Kyambogo road, will park at Cricket Oval Grounds while graduands using the Northern bypass, Eastern African Road, Ntinda Kiwatule will enter through Kabaka’s farm gate, and park at the Peace Park Grounds.”

In addition, Wepukhulu further stated that Graduands who will use Ntinda Kiwatule Road and enter through the National Council for Higher Education Road will park at Peace Park grounds and a multipurpose science building yard.

The university staff will use the western gate, drive through Fisher Road, and access the parking at the central library. VVIPS will park at the senate building parking yard while VIPS will park at technical teacher education or Central teaching faculty parking yards.

Security guidelines

Under the Umbrella of interagency, Jonathan Musinguzi, the Regional Police Commander of Kampala Metropolitan Police, (KMP) East requested maximum cooperation from all the participants. Police will ensure all the participants within the university premises are secure together with their property.

To keep guard against terror acts, Musinguzi advised: “Let us be mindful and share any information of any terror threat. As we head towards the festive season, the terror threat is still on, and we can’t take it lightly. Besides, we don’t want to be taken unaware.”