Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, over the weekend, revealed to the public how he contacted his counterpart at University of Bristol over expired degree.
It all started with an email sent to a graduate applicant from Makerere from the admissions team at University of Bristol. The email said that the University of Bristol was unable to accept her degree qualification in Biomedical Laboratory because she graduated in 2018 after the programme’s accreditation had expired in 2015.
While appearing on Urban TV, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said he made efforts to approach his British counterpart, Prof. Evelyn Welch about the matter. He said they were both attending the Worldwide Universities Network annual general meeting in Monterrey, a city in Mexico.
“I asked the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bristol that is it true that you are asking about Makerere’s accreditation because they recognise us as equals. She actually got surprised and said well, I am going to check with my admission office but that should never happen. So, we are waiting for them to confirm whether this is true or if people were just playing around with the Internet,” he said.
This particular story caused an uproar in Uganda’s media both online and mainstream since the UK university said they accept applicants with a bachelor’s degree from a Ugandan university with programme accreditation and that they use the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) website.
The NCHE had listed on its website over 2,000 courses as ‘expired’, meaning these programmes needed re-assessment to establish whether the key aspects upon which accreditation was granted were still in place.
Several universities have come out to reassure stakeholders that the accreditation issue should not worry past or present learners since NCHE accredited the institutions.
