For years, students from well-connected families in Kampala and other major cities have dominated government sponsorship at university. A proposed overhaul wants to change that — and the implications for who gets into Makerere, Kyambogo, and other public universities could be significant.
If you got into university on government sponsorship through the national merit scheme, the system that put you there is about to be restructured — and not in your favour.
The Ministry of Education is proposing a major review of how government university sponsorship slots are distributed, with plans to slash the number of slots awarded under the national merit scheme and redirect them to the district quota system. The goal, according to the ministry, is to ensure that students from disadvantaged and rural backgrounds — not just those from expensive Kampala schools — benefit from government-funded university education.
Education ministry spokesperson Dr. Dennis Mugimba confirmed the plans, saying the review followed feedback from stakeholders about the government’s admissions to public universities.
“We will see large districts get more slots under the quota system,” he said.
Under the existing arrangement, 75% of government sponsorship slots at university have been awarded under the national merit scheme, with 25% going to the district quota system — which includes 64 slots for students with special needs and 40 slots for talented students.
The proposal flips that balance. The education ministry wants the district quota to take 75% of slots, while national merit drops to just 25%.
Currently, the Government provides 4,000 slots under the national merit sponsorship scheme, and local government units will be allocated slots based on their size and the number of students enrolled — meaning larger districts like Kampala, Wakiso, Ntungamo, Mubende, Bushenyi, and Kasese will receive more slots than smaller districts like Luuka, Mitooma, and Lwengo.
The critique behind this reform is one that has been circulating in education policy circles for years: government sponsorship has disproportionately benefited students from wealthy families attending expensive schools.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa was vocal on this point while addressing the 2022 Higher Education Institutions exhibition at the Uganda Manufacturers Association showgrounds in Kampala.
“There is an inequality in university admission that I have witnessed. There are parents like me, who can afford to pay school fees in top schools like Kisubi and the Namilyango of this world, but still the same children are admitted to university on government sponsorship,” he said.
His proposed fix was straightforward: split the government sponsorship funds in half, with more going to either a student loan scheme or the district quota admission system. “I would like everyone to join me to advocate for a change so that government sponsorship is only given to students who cannot afford fees,” he added.
The current national merit system, critics argue, has widened inequality between the rich and the poor — because the biggest beneficiaries are children from well-to-do families attending the very top schools that the system was never intended to serve exclusively.
The proposed reform has found support among some of Uganda’s senior academics. Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo, executive director of the Uganda Vice-Chancellors’ Forum, welcomed the move to allocate more slots to the district quota system.
“We have been calling for this review for a long time. The current admission under government sponsorship is unfair to the children of peasants. It is children who enrol at these top traditional schools who have been benefiting. Broadening the scheme will take competition to the districts and we will see more vulnerable learners benefiting,” he said.
Prof. Ddumba Ssentamu, the former Vice-Chancellor of Makerere University, added a sharper historical point — noting that the Government makes university education entirely free, as it was during the colonial and post-colonial days.
The reform in admission under the government sponsorship scheme is expected to have three major implications. It will increase opportunities for children in rural areas. It is expected to hit students from top urban schools, where the majority of current national merit beneficiaries come from. And — critically — the beneficiaries of the district quota scheme are selected from the districts where they sat Senior Six, meaning students cannot game the system by sitting exams in a different district.
The final decision on the number of slots to add and how to distribute them, Mugimba said, will be taken by the next Cabinet, which will guide the ministry on the next course of action.
For students currently in Senior Five and Six, this is the most important policy development in university admissions in years. If the reform goes through before your cohort sits A-Level, the competition landscape changes significantly — especially for students at high-performing schools in Kampala and Wakiso who have historically relied on national merit to secure government sponsorship.
For students from rural and upcountry districts, it is potentially the best news the admissions system has delivered in a generation.
The Cabinet has the final say. Watch this space.
