Museveni to decide MUBS fate, says Alupo

Jun 04, 2014

Education minister Jessica Alupo has written to President Yoweri Museveni for guidance on whether to start the process of making Makerere University Business School (MUBS) a university.

By Innocent Anguyo

Education minister Jessica Alupo has written to President Yoweri Museveni for guidance on whether to start the process of making Makerere University Business School (MUBS) a university.


In an interview with the New Vision on Sunday, Alupo said she wrote to Museveni after MUBS requested for full university status about three weeks ago, instead of being turned into a degree awarding institution, as earlier approved by cabinet.

Cabinet had also given the institution a new name, Metropolitan Universal Business School, to maintain the acronym MUBS.

MUBS, Alupo said had earlier requested to be granted the status of a degree awarding institution, just like Uganda Management Institute (UMI), only for it to make a U-turn and demand for university status.

She nevertheless vowed to proceed with the process of making MUBS a degree awarding institution, as she awaits the response from the president. Alupo cited legal lacuna as the reason for the delay in making MUBS a degree awarding institution.

The minister said she had written to the first parliamentary council, requesting them to draft a statutory instrument that she would lay before parliament to complete the process of making MUBS an independent degree awarding institution.

“Cabinet has written to the first parliamentary council twice but they are yet to respond to our request for a statutory instrument,” explained Alupo.

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MUBS’s relentless desire to break-away from Makerere University has been a source of acrimony between the two institutions

According to Education Ministry spokesman Patrick Muinda, a university offers many courses from several disciplines and specialties meanwhile a degree awarding institution can only specialize in offering courses in a specific area such as management, as is the case with UMI.

In the meantime, MUBS remains affiliated to Makerere University. MUBS deputy PRO Frederick Rwakyaka said they would continue pushing for a university status.

MUBS was established by Makerere University order 1997, as a constituent college of Uganda’s oldest public university. The School was created from a merger between the then Makerere University faculty of commerce and the then national college of business studies (NCBS).

The merger involved the physical movement of the faculty of commerce from the Makerere Campus to Nakawa where the NCBS was located.  The actual merger and movement took place in January 1998.

In 2001, the structure of the school changed with the enactment of the University and other tertiary institutions Act, which made the school transform from a constituent college of Makerere to a public tertiary institution affiliated to Makerere University.

MUBS’s relentless desire to break-away from Makerere University has been a source of acrimony between the two institutions over the years.
Alupo’s revelations come days after Makerere University chancellor Prof Mondo Kagonyera has expressed displeasure over the slow pace of the process of granting MUBS autonomy status.

“It is unfortunate that there are some people holding this institution back and denying it from taking its rightful place among similar institutions,” said Kagonyera.

Kagonyera made the remarks on Friday, while presiding over a graduation ceremony at MUBS.

Kagonyera noted that “to say that MUBS is a tertiary institution, similar to these colleges we have seen in some of our streets in our towns is to belittle the effort of the great minds that have made the institution what it is.”

He said it was high time the government took a bold decision to make MUBS an independent university.

“If this cannot happen, then the law should be amended to enable the institution act independently within the framework,” Kagonyera said.

The graduation ceremony on Friday, MUBS’s ninth, saw 1,144 students graduate with postgraduate diplomas, undergraduate diplomas and certificates in various academic disciplines.

Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu urged the graduands to pursue higher qualification to make them more competitive in the job market.

MUBS principal Prof Wasswa Balunywa urged the government to improve allocation to infrastructural development in higher institutions of learning, saying structures in most public universities were fast getting dilapidated.

Also in attendance were Prof Beban Sammy Chumbow of ICT University in the U.S; MUBS Council chairman Prof Venansius Baryamureeba; Mohan Kiwanuka, the CEO of Oscar Industries  and Dr. Christa Lee Olson, the Vice Provost of Drake University in the U.S.

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