Government is preparing sweeping changes to how public university scholarships are awarded and financed, in reforms that could save taxpayers as much as sh6.12 billion a year, according to a New Vision report.
At the centre of the proposal is a shift away from the Public Universities Joint Admissions Board (PUJAB) route into government sponsorship. Instead of the current system, where beneficiaries are assigned a course based on what they chose during PUJAB registration, students would apply for sponsorship directly, and admission would come first.
The changes form part of the proposed amendment to the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act (UOTIA), Cap 262, one of several legal reforms expected to be delivered during the 2026/2027 financial year. President Museveni flagged the amendment during his June State-of-the-Nation Address.
Money is the driver
New Vision reports that if government suspends meals and accommodation support for sponsored students, its spending per beneficiary would fall by nearly half, from about sh4,500 a day down significantly. Currently, catering for the roughly 4,000 students on government sponsorship costs the state about sh2.16 billion a year in meals alone, and sh930 million a year in accommodation.
Under the reforms, only tuition, functional and research fees would be guaranteed for exceptional and deserving students; feeding and housing costs would fall to beneficiaries themselves.
VCs as accounting officers
A second major change would restructure leadership at public universities to mirror private institutions, where vice-chancellors double as accounting officers. Under the current law, that role sits with the university secretary. A ministry source told New Vision the shift is meant to fix accountability gaps and reduce turf wars between vice-chancellors and university secretaries over control of resources.
Not everyone is convinced. Former Makerere University vice-chancellor Prof. John Ddumba Ssentamu pushed back on the idea, arguing it piles too much onto an already demanding role.
Other academics were more receptive. Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo of the Uganda Vice-Chancellors Forum welcomed the broader reform push, saying it was overdue given how long national merit-based admission has been overtaken by students who don’t take up their slots, while others who could pay their way are left without options.
Prof. Celestino Obua, former vice-chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology, raised a different concern: that scrapping government sponsorship in favour of a student loan scheme for all Ugandans, an idea floated earlier by vice-chancellors, could remove the incentive fights over top A-Level grades that currently fuel exam malpractice.
What else is on the table
The draft amendments reportedly also propose folding all government sponsorship programmes into a single National Merit Scheme, under which bursaries would be awarded nationally and through the district quota system, funding tuition, accommodation, meals, and books and stationery.
The proposals echo recommendations first floated under the National Higher Education Policy roughly two years ago.
