The future of graduates of Busoga University hangs in total darkness after the university was ordered to stop operating and admitting students and as well discontinue on going classes. Some graduates from the university have been awarded degrees whose academic worth is unknown and substandard and not known to National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) either.
The university was closed by NCHE in December last year after it was discovered it had awarded degrees to more than 1,000 students, majority of whom were from South Sudan after a two-month study in 2016.
Despite the closure, the university is operating normally and ‘illegally’ admitting students according to NICHE. Although President Museveni announced that the government should take over the institution and named a committee to oversee the process, the takeover has not yet taken place and NCHE says the university remains closed.
Through investigations from monitor publications, the university was found to be issuing admission letters to new entrants and several continuing students carrying out their normal routines of studying.
“The university is operating normally. Even at the time of closure, there was a court injunction. For us, it has been business as usual. We have even started examinations for continuing students. We are admitting new students and this is done throughout the year,” Andrew Balondemu said in a statement
However, NICHE has come out to distance itself from the operation of the university citing it as illegal. According the State Minister for Higher Education, Mr Chrysostom Muyingo, who chairs the takeover committee, it is a surprise that the university is operational.
“As far as government is aware, the university is officially closed. We are working to ensure the university operates as soon as possible. But for opening, it will be a decision for the Council (NCHE),” Muyingo said.
Prof Opuda Andrew who chairs the committee of universities under NICHE however asked the university administration to stop duping the public and admitting students or continuing to teach undergraduates who had been admitted by the time of closure.
“We are just starting to work on Busoga University to become a public university. The university is not supposed to be working now. They must stop admission and teaching continuing students because they do not have what it takes to run a university. What they are doing is illegal,” he said.
Asked about why students were still undergoing teaching at the university, Prof. Opunda assured the reporter that the university must be closed
“That is how our country has gone – so desperate. Sometimes you cannot stop everything. You do what is in your means. All we know is that Busoga University was closed. We do not have students there. If they are there, that is their business. We shall have to transfer the continuing students to other universities through government. It is a long process,” Prof Opuda said.
“Busoga University is closed by law. If they break the law, NCHE does not have a police force. We made public announcements through the media and we wrote to them. There is no authority we did not reach out to. All state organs are aware. Those students sitting examinations; don’t they know the university was closed? Do they lack information? Eventually, the law will catch up with them,” he added.
Justice Solomy Balungi Bossa of the Constitutional Court issued an order on January 31, two months after the closure, restraining NCHE from revoking Busoga University’s licence. The court further halted NCHE’s decision to stop the university from admitting new students until its case challenging the closure had been disposed of. The university was founded in 1999 and is affiliated to Busoga Diocese under the Church of Uganda.
