MUK To Pick Private Students Today

By John Eremu MAKERERE University admissions board meets today and tomorrow to consider the intake of the about 10,000 private students for the academic year 2001/02. The selection of the remaining 856 students on government scholarships will also be done alongside the private admissions, the Academic Registrar, Mr. Sebastian Ngobi, told The New Vision yesterday. “All factors remaining constant, the admissions list is expected to be displayed in about a week’s time after the selection,” Ngobi said. The new academic year opens to fresh students at the end of next month. The university at the end of June filled 2,983 of the 4,000 places allotted for government sponsorship. The remaining places had to be advertised because either the courses were new or were exclusively for private students. The university had hitherto admitted about 12,000 students on private sponsorship, but the number has this year been scaled down by 2,000 following President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to double state scholarships to 4,000. Of the 40, 533 candidates who sat for the “A” level examinations last year, 21,924 qualified for university education but the two state universities, Makerere and Mbarara, take about 15,000. The 10 private universities combined admit about 2,000. The new Kyambogo University and the Northern University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences also open this academic year, but are likely take less than 500 students. Ends