Tayebwa directs NCHE to declassify expired courses’ as under review

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa directed National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to declassify ‘expired’ courses as “under review”.

Tayebwa’s directive came after media reports on ‘expired’ academic programmes. At least 1,470 programmes have expired over the last five years, according to statistics obtained from the NCHE.

The list of affected universities and other tertiary institutions includes both public and private academic institutions, but the biggest universities are the worst hit. The affected programmes include both graduate and undergraduate courses, and the expiration period differs according to the academic institutions.

While presiding over plenary on Wednesday, Tayebwa blamed the current expired courses crisis on the misuse of strong words, challenging the Ministry of Education and Sports on its programme accreditation and review policy.

“Sometimes we love using string words without knowing the impact they can have. Why use the word expired? Hon. Muyingo you need to write to the National Council for Higher Education so that these programs are marked as programs under review,” Tayebwa directed.

He noted that the word expired is being used unnecessarily.