President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on saturday 28th October ,2017 as Visitor, to Public Universities in Uganda visited Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) to preside over the Installation of its 4th Chancellor, Prof. Charles Mark Lwanga Olweny. He was accompanied by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Hon. Janet Museveni who was the chief guest at the 24th Graduation ceremony where 1,028 graduands were passed out bringing the total graduates who have come through the great gates of MUST to 13,454 since 1995 at the university’s first graduation ceremony and of these, 1,320 are medical doctors.
President Museveni paid glowing tribute to the founding Vice Chancellor prof. Frederick .I.B. Kayanja and commended him for being straightforward and listening to his advice without disdain.
The President congratulated the out going Chancellor Prof. Peter Mugyenyi of Joint Clinical Research Centre(JCRC) for a job well done. Prof. Mugyenyi has served MUST for over 16 years first as Chair of the University Council in the past for eight years and later in 2008 to August 2017 as the 3rd Chancellor of Mbarara University of Science & Technology. He is renown for his pioneering work in the Research and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Uganda and the world over.
During his address to the congregation, President Museveni noted ,”If we deal with all ghosts on the payroll & redistribute this money fairly among workers, it will be enough to ensure good pay for everyone. The question of university staff salaries will be dealt with. Government currently spends Shs4,000 billion on wages of 415,000 workers”. 
He congratulated MUST for keeping their student numbers small and focusing on quality by teaching courses that are relevant to the market. MUST has a population of 3,679 students from 43 in 1989.The president emphasized that universities should standardise the entry requirements for similar courses stressing the same for medicine. He argued that minimum entry requirements should be uniform among institutions for similar programs. He commended the quality of doctors from MUST and asked other medical schools to emulate the secret of MUST.
“The English people say; “putting a square peg in a round hole.” That is what the education system in Uganda has been doing; training people aimlessly. You have courses like SWASA (Social Work and Social Administration), Conflict Resolution…,” he told the MUST fraternity.
“Let us not start any course which has no relevance to the job market,” the President said.
At the same ceremony, the first lady and Minister of Education and Sports hon. Janet Museveni commended the leadership of the university and praised the staff and students for always being tolerant and using good offices and dialogue to solve disputes. She said she was proud of the development of infrastructure at the new Kihumuro main campus 7kms on the Mbarara -Bushenyi highway where the installation and graduation ceremony were held. She was happy to note that MUST has finally started the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology and pledged her ministry’s support to promote the engineering programs that have been started and those yet to start.
The first lady congratulated MUST for her 28th founding anniversary, installation of the 4th Chancellor and on the occasion of the 24th graduation ceremony.
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