Student numbers overwhelm Kyambogo University

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kyambogo University is choking with a high number of students. Our reporter visited the Banda based university on Tuesday and found several lecture rooms filled to capacity.

Some of the students were standing during lectures while others were sharing the limited furniture available. The situation has been exacerbated by the ever increasing number of students.

While students have been on the increase in the last two academic years, the University hasn’t provided additional lecture rooms, furniture and lecturers. Students say this has caused stiff competition for the available resources.

Helen Ninsiima, a student leader at Kyambogo University told URN that they experience pressure and sometimes competition for toilets and chairs due to the high student enrollment.

According to Ninsiima, the newly built lecture rooms are yet to be utilized due lack of chairs. She says this has left staff and students with no option but to continue utilizing some of the dilapidated buildings with less capacity to hold the numbers.

“We agree the numbers are increasing as per admissions of 2019/2020 and these admissions have come with a lot of issues. We already have issues of the Main Hall and has a falling ceiling that means, students will be seated in a lecture and the ceiling falls on them,” Ninsiim told our reporter.

Adding that; “As the guild we are going to lock it until management makes it habitable again. But our worry even as we do this is that students will have nowhere to study from. Look at the new buildings they don’t have seats.”

URN has learnt that over 600 students offer Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management (Evening), Bachelor of Accounting and Finance (Day) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and some have retakes in the Legal Framework of Organizations, a course unit taken by students in the School of Management and Entrepreneurship at Kyambogo University.

Ninsiima attributes this huge number of retakes to an overwhelming task given by the lecturer who has had to handle 800 students.

Jonathan Tundulu, the Kyambogo Students Guild President confirmed that many students were attending lectures while standing, which he said is embarrassing to a University of Kyambogo’s stature.

According to Tundulu, students haven’t been granted access to the new buildings due to lack of furniture. He says some of the buildings that students could utilize are occupied by the army and LDU personnel.

Kyambogo University Vice Chancellor, Professor Eli Katunguka Rwakishaya also told URN that they challenged with the overwhelming number of students, which has increased pressure on the available facilities. Student enrollment has increased from 25000 students in the past two academic years to 33,000 students.

“Previously we used to speculate about the numbers but now we are able to see the numbers of students because we have a system that monitors and facilitates student registration. So we see the numbers of students as they register. And now there about 33,000 students but we are hopeful we shall manage them with support from African Development Bank (ADB) facilities,” Professor Katunguka told URN in an interview.

He disclosed 29,000 of the 42,000 students who qualified to join universities after their Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE applied to join Kyambogo University. Although Kyambogo only admitted 17,000 students, Professor Katunguka, said Kyambogo has in the recent past been the preferred destination for several students.

He attributes this to the quality of education students receive and stability in the university.

According to Prof. Katunguka, it is this increase in student admissions that has prompted the university to open upcountry learning centers. So far, Kyambogo has created two learning centers in Bushenyi and Soroti.

“This is aimed at decongesting the university at the center and giving an opportunity to many Ugandans to access higher Education,” Professor Katunguka disclosed.

Adding that; “The centers are registering growth and are offering in service courses and regular university programs. They will be institutionalized into the university system.”

Katunguka says that the university is yet to commence a process of identifying a suitable location for a learning center in Northern Uganda.

With support from ADB through the Higher Education Science and Technology (HEST) project, eight (8) facilities have been established at the university.

They include a 3,500 seater Central Teaching Facility (CTF), a multi-purpose complex laboratory for science education; the virtual library and Technical Teacher Education complex for skilling the youth.

With the exception of the arrival of laboratory equipment, majority of these new facilities remain without seats leaving them un-utilized.

*****

URN