UGANDA COUNTRY BRIEF REPORT ON NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION BY

1. UGANDA COUNTRY BRIEF REPORT ON NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION BY DR. MOUHAMAD MPEZAMIHIGO, COUNCIL MEMBER UGANDA NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND VICE RECTOR ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY IN UGANDA PRESENTED TO THE ROUNDTABLE MEETING OF QA AGENCIES OF THE OIC MEMBER COUNTRIES, 13TH TO 15TH NOVEMBER 2009 AT LEGEND HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

2. NCHE FORMATION AND STRUCTURE Established by The Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001 (currently being considered for amendments) to: • Regulate and guide the establishment and management of institutions of higher learning; and • Regulate the quality of higher education, equate qualifications and advise government on higher education issues. Council Members are appointed under section 7 of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001

3. NCHE Composition • Chairperson appointed by HE The President of the Republic of Uganda • Vice Chairman elected by the Council Members • Two representatives of Vice Chancellors of Public and Private Universities • An Officer in Charge of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Sports • Two student representatives • Two Senate representatives from Public and Private Universities • Four representatives of religious non-degree awarding institutions • Three members from commerce, industry and agriculture • Four members of other sectors of Higher Education • One person representing the public elected by the Council Members • The Executive Director of NCHE

4. Vision and Mission of NCHE-Uganda • Vision- The provision of relevant, broad based technology driven, dynamic, sustainable higher education to all qualified Ugandans • Mission- To set standards and regulations to ensure that all public and private tertiary education institutions in Uganda will create, sustain and improve relevance and quality education for all qualified Ugandans and to meet the local, national and global higher education challenges

5. Functions of NCHE-Uganda • To advise the Minister of Education on Higher Education policy issues • To license Higher Education Institutions • To accredit all academic and professional programmes taught in Higher Education Institutions • To set national admission standards and ensure that Higher Education institutions meet the standards • To Publish information on Higher Education • To determine the equivalence of academic qualifications obtained elsewhere other than those awarded by Ugandan Higher Education institutions for recognition in Uganda

6. NCHE Committees • Finance and Administration • Research and Development • Accreditation and Quality Assurance

7. QA-FRAMEWORK OBJECTIVE The aim of the framework is to ensure that NCHE and higher education institutions work together to achieve and enhance the quality of higher education.

8. ASPECTS OF QA FRAME WORK OF NCHE-UGANDA The Quality Assurance Framework aspects include the following aspects: • Merit based admissions standards to the tertiary sub sector • Accreditation of institutions and academic programmes, • Rules and regulations to guide quality maintenance, • General Quality Assurance framework, • Defining minimum requirements for courses of study, • Institutional audits (internal and external), • Quality of outputs, • A credit accumulation and transfer system. • Regulation of cross boarder higher education. • Legal framework.

9. REGULATIONS • Under section 123 ad 128 of the Act, the Council made the following regulations for effective management of tertiary institutions of education. • Statutory Instruments No. 80 (2005) Establishment and Operation of Private Universities and Private Tertiary Institutions.  • Statutory Instruments No 80 B A Checklist of Quality and Universities Capacity Indicators for Assessment of Universities and Programmes • Statutory Instruments No 80 C Application for a provisional licence to Establish and Operate a Private University • Statutory Instruments No. 85 (2005) Institutional Standards • Statutory Instruments No. 61 (2007) Letters of Interim Authority for Private Universities and Provisional Licence for Private Other Degree Awarding Institutions • Statutory Instruments No. 1 (2007) Naming of Universities, Other Degree Awarding Institutions. • Statutory Instruments No. 62 (2007) Equating of degrees, diplomas and certificates • Statutory Instruments No 63 (2007) Minimum Entry requirements for admissions to Universities or Other tertiary Institutions • Statutory Instruments No 34 (2008) �the Universities and other tertiary institutions (Quality Assurance) Regulations, 2008 • Statutory Instruments No 35 (2008) � the Universities and other Tertiary Institutions (Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards for Procurement Education and training) Regulations, 2008

10. NCHE- Publications The National Council for Higher Education produces various publications, which include: Uganda Higher Education Reviews, Council's Annual Report and others, which can be downloaded from the links. • Higher Education Journals • Uganda Education Review Vol.5 no. 1 April 2008 • The State of Higher Education • State of Higher Education and Training In Uganda 2006State of Higher Education and Training In Uganda 2005 • Quality Assurance • Guidelines for the establishment of Tertiary Institutions, Colleges and Universities by GovernmentGuidelines on Registrations of E-Degrees in UgandaAccess and Equity to Higher Education in UgandaQuality Assurance Framework for and Licensing ProceduresQuality Assurance Framework for Uganda • Accredited Programs in Uganda • Guidelines for accreditationFull list of Accredited Programmes 2008

11. NCHE course minimum standards Minimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of Administrative and Secretarial StudiesMinimum Standards for course of study in Bachelor of Procurement and Supply Chain ManagementMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of leisure and Hospitality ManagementMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of Human Resource ManagementMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of EntrepreneurshipMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of CommerceMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of Business AdministrationMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of Administrative and Secretarial StudiesMinimum Standards for Course of Study in Bachelor of Accounting & FinanceMinimum Standards for Courses of Study in Basic Sciences Undergraduate programmesMinimum Standards for Courses of Study in Medicine and Surgery Undergraduate programmesMinimum Standards for Courses of Study in Bachelor of Statistics and Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science

12. Student, staff, universities • The Uganda university system is a small one but growing very fast to meet demand. • In 2005/6, there were some 110,000 students in Uganda universities of whom approximately 95000 were in public i.e. government institutions • Although about 80% of students in public universities were considered “private” because they paid some fees, most overheads such as the infrastructure, education facilities and some staff welfare were paid by the state. • The number of institutions and academic staff has been increasing. In 2005/6, there were twenty-seven universities with about 3908 academic staff of whom 2092 were in public and 1816 in private universities.

13. Challenges and future direction of NCHE-Uganda • Amendment of current Act of 2001 • Financing of Higher Education management in Uganda • Cross border higher education regulation • Mushrooming of new and many tertiary and higher education institutions • Establishing a modern office facility for NCHE

14. Thank you for your attention