National Council for Higher Education chief urges on standards

By Julius Businge

The Deputy Executive Director at the National Council for Higher Education, Prof. Moses Golola has urged all higher institutions of learning to maintain the needed education standards to ensure they survive the routine operations of the council.

Among the standards he mentioned having a well trained enough staff to educate students on various courses, having the required equipment for practical lessons, better and spacious learning rooms among others.

“We keep and will ensure we monitor these institutions all the time because it is our mandate,” Golola said.

He made the remarks as chief guest at the first graduation ceremony for Artfield Institute of Design, an Art and Design Institute at Imperial Royal Hotel in Kampala on June 28.

Artifield was started in 2009 as an institution to train Art and Design professional skills to students who have enrolled in the profession. The first graduation accommodated 40 granduands attaining certificates and diplomas.

Golola urged students, parents and the school to support each other to skill Ugandans so as to create jobs, for the benefit of the community and the country at large.

Ignie Igundura, the chairperson governing council for the Institute, who is also the public relations manager at Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said they intend to introduce degree courses in the future.

“Already we have students from other parts of the region,” he said, adding that means we have capacity to serve more. He urged the granduands to serve the expectations of the market and their employers.

“Education is a very delicate area,” Igundura said, you need to ensure that you meet the standards of the education council so as to operate. “We went through a tough interview process to prove to the officials from the National Council for Higher Education that we had capacity to serve in this market and we did that,” he added.

Golola said he was happy that the institute was at par with the required standards and promised to report to the top officials at the council about it.

“That should be the task for the other institutions,” Golola told this reporter on the sidelines at the ceremony.