Higher education
18 Nov 2010
Short description of the higher education system
The Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) is responsible for all levels of education. Thirty-one per cent of tertiary institutions are public. However, since these institutions have a larger capacity than their private counterparts, more students are currently enrolled in public institutions than in private ones. Tertiary education is provided by universities and specialized (university-affiliated) colleges and institutes, which focus more on professional education.
Types of degrees
Universities award sub-degree certificates (one year), sub-degree diplomas (one to two years), postgraduate diplomas (two years), bachelor’s degrees (two to five years), master’s degrees (two to three years) and PhD degrees.
Quality assurance and accreditation
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is a statutory agency responsible for setting standards governing the establishment and operation of higher education institutions. Specifically, the NCHE:
- sets tertiary education policy, advises government on higher education issues and publishes information on higher education;
- regulates the quality of higher education by managing the accreditation system and conducting accreditations;
- investigates complaints concerning higher education;
- evaluates national manpower requirements and regulates the relevance of higher education;
- sets national admission standards;
- ensures that institutions have adequate premises and training facilities;
- evaluates the equivalence of academic and professional certificates and credits between institutions; and regulates and guides the management of institutions of higher learning.
Recent reforms
In 2008, the Ministry of Education and Sports published a needs assessment report for northern Uganda outlining and discussing priority reform areas. Policy recommendations were also provided, including possible financing structures and a planning timeframe within which specific measures could be tackled and realized. On the whole, reforms are related to infrastructural needs (e.g. quality and number of buildings, energy and water supply and availability, and sports complexes), human resource needs for the education sector (e.g. teacher quality and availability) and requirements for instructional materials.
The 2008 education sector performance review further reported that a major policy thrust for 2008 would be the expansion of equitable access to higher education, to be realized by increasing student intake capacity at existing institutions and liberalizing higher education in order to increase private sector participation. Enhancement of the quality and relevance of education was also set as a priority. However, limited budgetary resources hindered full achievement of these targets.
