The NCHE says some non-compliant institutions are hiding behind interim court orders to keep operating. Now it wants the legal teeth to stop them.
Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education has a problem. It identifies universities that are breaking the rules — operating unauthorised campuses, admitting students into unaccredited programmes, expanding beyond approved capacity — and then moves to shut them down. And then a court issues an interim order, and the institution keeps running.
That pattern, according to NCHE Executive Director Prof. Mary Okwakol, is a serious gap in the regulatory framework. And the Council is now pushing to close it.
Speaking during a benchmarking engagement with the Somalia National Commission for Higher Education in Tinda, Prof. Okwakol said the NCHE is making plans to strengthen the laws governing higher education institutions in Uganda — specifically to address the legal loopholes that allow non-compliant universities to continue operating while under regulatory scrutiny.
The mechanics of the problem are straightforward. NCHE raises concerns about an institution — perhaps it is running a campus in a city it was never licensed to operate in, or admitting students into a degree programme that has not been accredited, or simply enrolling far more students than its infrastructure and staffing can support. The regulator moves toward enforcement. The institution goes to court and obtains an interim order. And just like that, the shutdown is blocked — sometimes for months or years while the legal process plays out.
During that entire period, the institution continues to admit students. Those students continue to pay fees. And at the end of their programme, they may find themselves holding a degree from a course that was never properly accredited — with consequences for their careers, their professional recognition, and their ability to practise in regulated fields.
The NCHE’s concern is not abstract. It is about the students sitting in those lecture rooms right now.
Beyond the court order issue, Prof. Okwakol’s remarks point to three recurring compliance failures that the regulator keeps encountering across Uganda’s higher education landscape.
Unauthorised campuses. Institutions approved to operate in one location quietly open branches in other cities or towns — sometimes in Kampala, sometimes upcountry — without seeking or receiving approval for those additional sites. Students enrol at these campuses in good faith, not knowing the branch they attend has never been sanctioned.
Unaccredited programmes. Universities admit students into degree programmes that have not gone through the NCHE accreditation process. This means the quality, curriculum, and qualification of the lecturers teaching those programmes have never been independently verified. The degree at the end may not be recognised by professional bodies, employers, or other academic institutions.
Exceeding approved capacity. Institutions are licensed to admit a certain number of students based on their physical infrastructure, staffing levels, and academic resources. Some admit significantly more than that — overcrowding lecture rooms, stretching laboratory access, and diluting the quality of supervision — while the excess tuition revenue flows in.
Every student choosing a university in Uganda this admissions cycle — whether through A-Level government sponsorship, private sponsorship, or the Mature Age Entry Scheme — carries some risk of ending up in an institution or programme that is not fully compliant with NCHE requirements.
The signals to watch for are not always obvious. A university that is operating a campus in your city may have full approval for that campus — or it may be operating on borrowed time, sustained by an interim court order and hoping the legal process drags long enough for it to monetise your enrollment.
Questions worth asking before committing to any institution: Is the specific campus accredited? Is the specific programme accredited? What is the institution’s current standing with the NCHE? The answers are theoretically available through NCHE’s public records — and they are worth finding before you pay fees.
That the NCHE raised these issues during a benchmarking visit from Somalia’s higher education commission is itself significant. Uganda’s regulatory model — however imperfect — is being studied by other countries building their own frameworks. The acknowledgment of its weaknesses, in that context, reflects a degree of institutional honesty: the system has gaps, the gaps are known, and the push to fix them is underway.
Whether the proposed legal strengthening moves through Uganda’s legislative process quickly enough to protect students currently enrolled at non-compliant institutions is a different question — and one the NCHE has not yet answered with a timeline.
