Scrap gov''t sponsorship for students - experts

Feb 04, 2014

A team of experts tasked to look into the circular disorders at Makerere University has recommended that government scraps the sponsored scholarship scheme

By David Lumu

A team of experts tasked to look into the circular disorders at Makerere University has recommended that government scraps the sponsored scholarship scheme in public universities and introduce cost sharing.

According to the 180-page report, the team led by Prof. Francis Omaswa roots for the scraping of the scheme, which oiled their education many years ago, on the grounds that the government scholarships schemes at Makerere University benefit a few affluent students, a trend that has chocked its essence.

“We recommend that Government drops the current policy of sponsoring some students only and instead contributes a certain proportion of the tuition for all Ugandan students admitted at the university for certain defined course,” the report states.

Under this new proposal, the Prof. Omaswa report states that: “All students meet the balance of the fees not paid for by government. Students who are unable to pay may be availed loan facilities from the government, and this should be restricted to students from poor financial background.”

To make sure that the loan scheme benefits only the impoverished students, the Omaswa task force calls for a strict criteria for accessing the loan facility. They also recommend that the university should adopt a fee structure based on the unit cost acceptable standard of the National Council for Higher Education.

The above report, which dissects the Makerere University dilemma for the past four decades, was handed over to the Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi on Tuesday at the Office of the Prime Minister office near Parliament.

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