CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

Inadequate Presence of Ugandan University Campuses Abroad
Only three universities in Uganda—all of them private—have established some kind of physical
institutional presence with academic programmes outside the country (exports of higher
education services through Mode 3 or commercial presence). They are KIU, Bugema University,
and Cavendish University. KIU established a university campus in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 6
years ago and is in the process of constructing another in Nairobi, Kenya. Bugema University
has a study centre in Eldoret in western Kenya and Cavendish University has established a
study centre in Juba, Southern Sudan. These three universities also carry out active outreach
programmes to attract and educate foreign students. However, these initiatives are done
entirely under the initiative and financing of the universities themselves, and not in the context
of a supportive government policy.
Lack of Reliable Statistics
Marketing Uganda’s Higher Education, published by Comsec in 2011, noted that the absence of
credible data for an accurate assessment of the scales of activity with respect to international
students was the biggest challenge in marketing Uganda’s higher education. The report
emphasised the importance of universities providing actual data to the NHCE, pointing out that
‘by not providing actual data across a range of indicators, universities are undermining the case
to attract investment into higher education’. 54 The NCHE, whose statutory mandate includes
tracking enrolment and fees, amongst other data, does not publish up-to-date statistics on
educational institutions in Uganda. Its latest annual report, The State of Higher Education and
Training in Uganda, is now 4 years old, having last been published in 2011 with data collected in
2010. An additional difficulty is obtaining statistics on the trade aspects of higher education.
When the NCHE publishes its statutory reports, these are short on trade aspects of higher
education exports, since the NCHE’s mandate is shaped not as a trade-facilitating higher
education regulator but a government policy enforcer.
The lack of up-to-date statistics extends to both public and private universities as well as selfaccounting
tertiary institutions. The situation amongst public universities and other public
tertiary institutions is so bad that a key respondent to this study at the MFPED attributed the
reluctance of the universities surveyed to provide data for this study to a ‘critical shortage of
reliable comparable data’. According to the same official, there are inconsistencies in reports
provided on the same aspect from different units of the same institution.
In an effort to address the lack of reliable comparable data for public universities and other
public tertiary institutions, the MFPED is in the advanced stages of implementing the
Computerised Education Management and Accounting System (CEMAS) in Uganda’s eight
public universities—Makerere University, Makerere Business School, Kyambogo University,
Busitema University, Uganda Management Institute, Mbarara University of Science and
Technology, Gulu University, and Muni University. This US$ 10 million 3-year project is
designed to automate core business processes in Uganda’s public universities and tertiary
institutions. The project is aimed at streamlining and strengthening financial and education
54
UEPB and Comsec. Marketing Uganda’s Higher Education, Final Project Report, 2011, p. 20.
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