Public universities more costly
OUT of 57,510 candidates who passed the A’level examinations with at least two principal passes and a subsidiary, 3,000 have been admitted to universities on Government sponsorship. Another 1,000 will be admitted on the district quota system.
By Conan Businge
OUT of 57,510 candidates who passed the A’level examinations with at least two principal passes and a subsidiary, 3,000 have been admitted to universities on Government sponsorship. Another 1,000 will be admitted on the district quota system.
For the remaining 54,000 and more, the only available opportunity for university education will be to apply for private sponsorship. However, only less than half of them will be admitted because all the universities in Uganda can only admit 25,000 students. This implies that about 27,000 will miss university education.
As they will soon find out, contrary to the expectations of most people, public universities tend to be more expensive than the private ones. For a number of degree courses sampled by Saturday Vision, the tuition fees higher in public universities. An example is the Bachelors of Human Resource management, for which Makerere University charges sh775,000 per semester, as compared to sh715,000 that one pays at the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU).
For one to study Bachelor of Business Administration at Makerere, they pay sh775,000 per semester. The same course at Uganda Christian University costs sh765,000 while St. Lawrence University charges sh630,000. Â
This is the same case with the Bachelor of Law (Day) which goes for sh900,000 at Makerere and sh715,000 at IUIU. However, UCU charges sh1,038,000, which is higher than Makerere. Makerere charges sh900,000 for a bachelors of information technology’. But a student admitted at IUIU can do the same course at a cost of sh660,000.
Kyambogo and Makerere charge higher fees for a bachelor of education – sh450,000, as compared to IUIU at sh320,000.
There could be many reasons why public universities charge high fees, one of them being limited funding from Government. According to the National Council for High Education boss J.B Kasozi, government’s allocation of funds to the tertiary sub sector has stagnated at 9 to 12% on the education ministry budget.
“This led to diversification of revenue through privatisation of higher education to supplement the declining government funding,†he says.
In the coming academic year, the fees in public universities are likely to go even higher, according to sources in the education ministry. Cabinet is still discussing the proposed fees increments.
OUT of 57,510 candidates who passed the A’level examinations with at least two principal passes and a subsidiary, 3,000 have been admitted to universities on Government sponsorship. Another 1,000 will be admitted on the district quota system.
For the remaining 54,000 and more, the only available opportunity for university education will be to apply for private sponsorship. However, only less than half of them will be admitted because all the universities in Uganda can only admit 25,000 students. This implies that about 27,000 will miss university education.
As they will soon find out, contrary to the expectations of most people, public universities tend to be more expensive than the private ones. For a number of degree courses sampled by Saturday Vision, the tuition fees higher in public universities. An example is the Bachelors of Human Resource management, for which Makerere University charges sh775,000 per semester, as compared to sh715,000 that one pays at the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU).
For one to study Bachelor of Business Administration at Makerere, they pay sh775,000 per semester. The same course at Uganda Christian University costs sh765,000 while St. Lawrence University charges sh630,000. Â
This is the same case with the Bachelor of Law (Day) which goes for sh900,000 at Makerere and sh715,000 at IUIU. However, UCU charges sh1,038,000, which is higher than Makerere. Makerere charges sh900,000 for a bachelors of information technology’. But a student admitted at IUIU can do the same course at a cost of sh660,000.
Kyambogo and Makerere charge higher fees for a bachelor of education – sh450,000, as compared to IUIU at sh320,000.
There could be many reasons why public universities charge high fees, one of them being limited funding from Government. According to the National Council for High Education boss J.B Kasozi, government’s allocation of funds to the tertiary sub sector has stagnated at 9 to 12% on the education ministry budget.
“This led to diversification of revenue through privatisation of higher education to supplement the declining government funding,†he says.
In the coming academic year, the fees in public universities are likely to go even higher, according to sources in the education ministry. Cabinet is still discussing the proposed fees increments.