Universities have up to 5 months to review courses

In a statement issued by NCHE on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, the institutes of higher learning have until November 30, 2023, to submit revised versions of expired programmes.

During a phone interview with this reporter on Tuesday, the NCHE executive director, Prof. Mary Okwakol, said students who are already enrolled in academic programmes that have been classified as expired should not worry as their academic awards will be recognised in the job market.

According to NCHE, a programme is declared expired after exceeding the period in which it must have undergone review.

Statistics obtained from the NHCE indicate that about 1,470 academic programmes in institutions of higher learning have expired.

According to NCHE, affected universities and tertiary institutes are both public and private, but the most affected are the biggest.

Both graduate and undergraduate academic programmes are affected, with some having expired as far back as a decade ago.

Makerere University and her sister university, Makerere University Business School, are the most affected, as both of them have a combined total of more than 100 academic programmes that have expired.

In a memo to all university staff, the Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabus Nawangwe, said there had been laxity partly on their side and that of NCHE due to delays in the review of some programmes by departments, schools, and colleges, and occasionally at the Senate level for re-accreditation as required by law.

"On the side of the NCHE, there have been delays in processing programmes for accreditation and also delays in updating their website," he said.

The Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Quality Assurance Regulations 2008 require that all academic programmes be reviewed every five years.

The regulations are meant to ensure the appropriateness, relevancy, and adequacy of programmes and courses of study, as well as the qualifications of staff and the quality of students at institutions of higher learning.