‘Varsity Won’t Inherit Students’

By John Eremu KAMPALA International University (KIU) cannot take over continuing students of Kampala University, education ministry officials have said. In a press statement, the ministry has also clarified that KIU was not yet licensed and Ggaba Hotel, the new campus for Kampala University was yet to be approved. The National Council for Higher Education, the body charged with the licensing of new higher institutions of learning, has not yet been constituted, a month to the opening of university academic year. Education minister Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, declined to discuss the controversy when contacted yesterday. But the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Francis Lubanga, recently told The New Vision that students enrolling at KIU were doing so “at their own risk.” An official who declined to be named said KIU can only enroll fresh students but cannot take on continuing students from another university because its programmes have not yet been approved. “They have unique programmes and are going to award their own degrees. So unless they had a twinning arrangement with Kampala University, they cannot take on the continuing students,” the official said. On why the ministry does not stop KIU from enrolling students, the official said, “Universities take on mature students. So if you are being told something is not yet registered and you go ahead and enroll there, Sauri yako (that is your own problem).” KIU Academic Registrar, Kassim Basajjabalaba, refused to comment on the issue insisting they had already issued a statement on the matter. “If you cannot publish the statement as it is, then leave it. You are fake,” he said. In the statement, the university management said they had complied with the first step towards acquiring a license. Ends