University Education in Uganda

Uganda 's higher education sector has grown very rapidly since the 1970s. Enrolment has increased from about 5900 students in 1975 to 58,091 in 2000, a growth of about 1000 per cent. Most of this growth has occurred in the university sector of higher education where 34,513 of the 58,098 tertiary-enrolled students were recorded in December 2000. Universities and teachers' colleges recorded a combined enrolment of 86 per cent of total tertiary. The breakdown for 2000 was 59 per cent for universities , 26.28 per cent for teachers' colleges, 5.68 per cent for colleges of commerce, 1/16 per cent for vocational training establishments, 1.04 per cent for technical colleges and the remaining 12.8 percent for 'other tertiary' institutions (whatever these are). The number of recognised university institutions has grown from one in 1988 to over tin in 2001. Makerere University's enrolment has grown from about 2500 in the latter part of the 1970s to about 25,000 in 2001. That is a growth of about 800 per cent. Despite such a phenomenal growth, Uganda is still far behind the sub-Saharan average in terms of higher education enrolment. Uganda's gross tertiary enrolment ratio was 2 per cent compared to the sub-Saharan average of 3.9 per cent, 61.1 per cent of high income countries and 17.4 per cent of world average in 1995. There is a need, therefore, to increase relevant tertiary enrollment. Ugandas have eagerly participated in paying for the costs of higher education because they have high expectations of the benefits of this commodity. They expect higher education to facilitate the improvement of the quality of their lives. They count on higher education to contribute to the economic development of the individual and the state. While it is true that education, particularly higher education, is the basis for acquiring, creating, disseminating and using knowledge for practical purposes in the process of development, it has to be the right type of education to perform such a task. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Uganda. The expansion of university education in Uganda since 1988 has not occurred in the disciplines that are key to national economic development. Most of it has occurred in the arts and humanities. Only four of the 14 universities in Uganda offer basic science and only two offer science and technology. Most of the mushrooming secondary schools in the country do not focus on science and technology. Of some 58.000 students enrolled in tertiary institutions in 1999/2000, only about 13-15 percent or about 7,500 students were registered for science and technology based disciplines. The remaining 50,000 were registered for arts or humanities. If higher education is to deliver what is expected of it, a conscious policy of placing more emphasis on science and technology , including ' the new technologies', must be adopted.