Experts want public varsities to cut intake at entry level

Experts have called for a gradual reduction in admission of Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) finalists to public universities to create more room for research and innovation at graduate level. 

The recommendation is part of a White Paper submitted to the Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs. Janet Museveni. The minister, who is also the First Lady, is expected to submit the paper to Cabinet for approval. 

The move, according to education experts will help public universities build more capacity at graduate level to focus on science, research and innovation as their core objective. 

"Public universities should progressively reduce the numbers of undergraduate students and increase that of graduate students and postgraduate students," the government experts headed by Prof. Frederick Kayanja argue in the White Paper. 

When to be effected The state minister for higher education, Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, said the recommendation would come into effect if Cabinet approved it. "Should Cabinet approve this recommendation, fewer undergraduate students will be admitted to public universities," he said. Muyingo added that if approved, the recommendation would be implemented in a gradual process. 

This is not the first time that the recommendation is coming up in the policy formulation process. Initially, this policy move was only meant for Makerere University but the Government's experts now propose it should be rolled out in all public universities.

The McGregor Visitation Committee had earlier recommended that the Government gradually reduces the number of UACE finalists who intend to pursue most of the humanities courses in public universities annually and increase admissions of those doing sciences courses to at least 40%. 

They had also proposed the introduction of pre-entry examinations for all courses in universities, as is the case with the School of Law currently, to strengthen the quality of  higher education in the country. This recommendation has also come up again in the final report to Cabinet.

Makerere University has already decided to gradually reduce the number of undergraduate students starting with the next academic year.

The vice-chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, says this will help the university focus more on research and innovation. The plan is also to step up admission numbers at graduate level. Makerere also plans to have a 10% annual cut in the number of undergraduates admitted under the private admissions scheme.

Makerere usually admits 14,000 private undergraduate students each academic year; out of about 16,000 applications that are received annually.

The former director for higher education, Elizabeth Gabona, said the proposal which has been in the pipeline for so many years is good.

"It is good that it is now coming up. It is not a bad idea at all. It will allow some public universities to strongly focus on research and innovation," Gabona said, adding, "as a country,

it is good that we are conscious of what is happening in other countries around the world. This is the direction they have taken."

However, Gabona cautioned that the Government must make sure that areas where there is need for more undergraduates are identified and supported so that they remain in public universities. The former vice-chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, said if the new policy move is okayed it could "apart from increasing entry in priority courses, also reduce students who annually graduate and remain unemployed. "

He noted that it will also increase students going for technical, vocational, and business courses; which are becoming the most critical and lucrative careers for graduates around the world. 

Rose Naigaga, a Senior Six student who intends to study social sciences at Makerere University said the Government should be careful not to just send arts students to private universities, the quality of whose education is poor. Naigaga noted that most of the private universities cannot match the quality of public universities, especially in the area of human

resource and infrastructural capacity, on top of being very expensive.

However, Muyingo said there is no need for those who want to join university after Senior Six to worry about this proposal because there are several private universities in 

the country that will be monitored to ensure quality. Muyingo also clarified that some public universities will have a higher number of undergraduates than others, even when this policy is cleared for implementation.

Among the other recommendations in the white paper is a proposal to have centralised admissions for all undergraduate programmes to both public and private higher education institutions, as opposed to the current individualised control of admissions.

According to the new policy, the capacity of every university in the country will be checked, and that there will be entry exams for all university courses to ensure that there is quality

education. This will be similar to the secondary schools selection process,which is centrally co-ordinated by a team from the Government.

Experts said this will also help Government to regulate the number of students who enter the system as well as the number of graduates who enter the labour market.

"This will help manage the human resource imbalances in the country," the government experts noted, referring to some sectors with so many unemployed graduates, yet other sectors are in a critical need of personnel.