MUBS should run own degree programmes, says ministry
Left to right, front row: Mubs Principal Wasswa Balunywa, Education minister Janet Museveni and former Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof Venansius Baryamureeba tour the Mubs ICT business hub on Thursday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Kampala- The ministry of Education has said all is set for Makerere University Business School (Mubs) to break away from Makerere University and start awarding its own degrees.
Mubs was established as a constituent college of Makerere University in 1997, and conducts courses leading to the award of degree, diplomas and certificates by Makerere University.
However, Makerere University and Mubs have been locked in a prolonged conflict over whether the latter should retain the name “Makerere” as it demands a university status.
While addressing Mubs officials and the Education minister at Mubs on Friday, Mr Aggrey Kibenge, the acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Education, said through the Higher Education Science and Technology (HEST) project, the ministry and Mubs have laid down the infrastructure to support Mubs run its own programmes.
“There is clear evidence that Mubs deserves respect and I confirm that through the support to HEST project from the African Development Bank,” he said.
But Education minister Janet Museveni, while addressing Mubs staff, said: “I have no reason not to grant you your wish to go where you want, but I cannot do it alone. We shall have to discuss with others about how quickly to change the status quo because I believe it is not a problem anymore.”
Asked why it has taken long for Mubs to gain independence from Makerere University yet it had already got the go-ahead nod from Cabinet, Prof Wasswa Balunywa, the Mubs principal, said he expected the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to spearhead the process but nothing has happened to date.
When asked why NCHE was not taking action on the Cabinet directive, Prof John Opuda Asibo, the NCHE executive director, said they have only heard of the directive as rumours.
“Many people make statements and it stops there. Let the minister [of Education] put it in writing and we shall follow through,” he told Sunday Monitor on Friday.
About Mubs
Makerere University Business School (Mubs) was established by Makerere University (Establishment of Constituent College) order 1997 as a constituent college of Makerere University (MUK).
The School was created from a merger between the Faculty of Commerce (FOC) and the National College of Business Studies (NCBS). The merger involved the physical movement of the Faculty of Commerce from the Makerere University campus to Nakawa where the NCBS was located.
