President Museveni okays Victoria University charter
Victoria University Campus. Photo | Courtesy
What you need to know:
- According to the letter from the Executive Director of NCHE, Prof Mary Okwakol, the Council officially handed over the charter to Victoria University officials on Friday.
President Museveni has signed the charter for Victoria University after it was cleared by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) last year upon fulfilling the requirement.
This pushes the number of private universities nationwide with a charter to 11.
According to the letter from the Executive Director of NCHE, Prof Mary Okwakol, the Council officially handed over the charter to Victoria University officials on Friday.
“President Museveni signed the charter for Victoria University on July 31. As a practice, we would like to officially hand over the charter to Victoria University,” Ms Okwakol said in her letter.
The University will now be able to participate in the student loan schemes this academic year.
The study loans are given to students who are admitted to all the Public Institutions and only those private institutions that are chartered. The application for study loans is underway across the country.
“At last, here comes our Charter. Thank you Prof Lawrence Muganga and the university Council and management. When we talk about quality education, this is it! Thank you President Museveni, Minister of Education and sports Ms Janet Museveni and NCHE,” the university management tweeted last week.
Currently, Uganda has more than 60 universities, according to the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
Whereas nine of these are public universities run by the government, almost 45 are private, military and the others in the category of degree awarding institutions.
Of these private universities, only eleven now have charter status, which is the highest license from the universities regulator, only granted by the Head of State.
According to the Universities and other Tertiary Institutions Act, a charter is granted by the President as evidence that the university meets the requirements and standards of academic excellence set by the NCHE. Furthermore, according to section 103(a) of the same Act 2001 as amended; a chartered university means a university that is comparable to a public university.
For any private university, getting a charter means, therefore, that it lays out guidelines for; the establishment, control, management and administration of the institution.
