Dr Alex Mugisha Kagume, the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) executive director has said that Uganda has not yet developed the required capacity to fully embrace distance learning courses. Several students have enrolled in different universities to study remotely, by simply being online.
“Although long distance learning has a lot of advantages, we have not yet reached that level. Until we have full-fledged and equipped centres for internet learning, that is still too early for Uganda. Having one computer and a server is not enough,” Kagume said.
Kagume made the above statements at a strategic meeting for 2019 Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church higher institutions of learning in East and Central Africa at Bugema University last week.
According to Kagume, there are several issues that need to be handled by universities first before getting excited for internet learning. He highlighted on the need for universities to play a key role in producing the critical human resource needed in supporting the development of the country.
“It is therefore important that we do not just produce any labour force equipped with the right attitude and right skills to contribute to development and nation building,” Kagume said.
Uganda has over 50 universities among which 10 are government-owned. Among the universities that offer distance learning include KIU, Ndejje, Cavendish among others.
He thanked the SDA church for the investment and support for Bugema University to become a fully-fledged vibrant chartered university.
