Regulation of Universities NCHE PDF

T H E R E P U B L I C O F U G A N D A
OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL
www.oag.go.ug | E-mail: info@oag.go.ug
?
?
A VALUE FOR MONEY AUDIT REPORT ON THE REGULATION OF

UNIVERSITIES BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HIGHER EDUCATION (NCHE)
A REPORT BY THE AUDITOR GENERAL
D E C E M B E R , 2 0 1 8
T H E R E P U B L I C O F U G A N D A
A Value For Money Audit Report on the Regulation of Universities

by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE)
A Report by the Auditor General
December, 2018
AUDITOR GENERAL’S MESSAGE
24th December 2018
The Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament

Parliament of Uganda
Kampala.
VALUE FOR MONEY AUDIT REPORT ON THE REGULATION OF UNIVERSITIES BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
OF HIGHER EDUCATION (NCHE)
In accordance with Article 163(3) of the Constitution, I hereby submit my report on the audit undertaken on
the Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE).
My office intends to carry out a follow-up at an appropriate time regarding actions taken in relation to the
recommendations in this report.
I would like to thank my staff who undertook this audit and the staff of the National Council of Higher
Education (NCHE) for the assistance offered to my staff during the period of the audit.
John F.S. Muwanga

AUDITOR GENERAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................................II
LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................................................II
ABBREVIATIONS...............................................................................................................................................III
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................IV
CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Motivation..............................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Description of the Audit Area................................................................................................................2
1.3 Audit Objectives.....................................................................................................................................4
1.4 Audit Objectives.....................................................................................................................................4
1.5 Audit Scope...........................................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO..................................................................................................................................................5
AUDIT METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Sampling...............................................................................................................................................6
2.2 Data Collection......................................................................................................................................6
2.3 Data Analysis........................................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER THREE..............................................................................................................................................7
SYSTEMS AND PROCESS DESCRIPTION...........................................................................................................8
3.1 Roles and Responsibilities of Key Players............................................................................................8
3.2 Process Description..............................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER FOUR...............................................................................................................................................12
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................13
4.1 Monitoring and institutional audits......................................................................................................14
4.2 Human Capital Assessment.................................................................................................................22
4.3 Minimum standards for courses of study............................................................................................23
APPENDICES...................................................................................................................................................26
Appendix I: Organizational Structure..............................................................................................................26
Appendix II: Data collection methodology........................................................................................................27
Appendix III: Documents reviewed...................................................................................................................28
Appendix IV: Interviews held...........................................................................................................................28
Appendix V: Quality Assurance Framework Indicators....................................................................................29
Appendix VI: University adherence to capacity indicators...............................................................................32
The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

A Report by the Auditor General I
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Funding................................................................................................................................................4
Table 2: Programmes assessed........................................................................................................................13
Table 3: Licenses and authorisations granted..................................................................................................14
Table 4: Universities with monitoring reports..................................................................................................15
Table 5: Planned, budgeted and actual allocations..........................................................................................15
Table 6: Allocation of students’ fees collections to monitoring activities........................................................16
Table 7: Quality assurance and accreditation department staffing levels.......................................................17
Table 8: Status of University programme accreditation...................................................................................18
Table 9: University with un-reviewed charters.................................................................................................18
Table 10: Universities with more than 3 years of holding provisional licenses...............................................19
Table 11: Analysis of budget and actual expenditure for minimum standards...............................................24
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Comparison of applications and assessments of programmes.......................................................13

Figure 2: Analysis of planned and actual unit cost monitoring activities........................................................16

II A Report by the Auditor General
ABBREVIATIONS
DQAA Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation

ED Executive Director
GoU Government of Uganda
HEO Higher Education Officer
NCHE National Council of Higher Education
NDP National Development Plan
NPA National Planning Authority
NTR Non Tax Revenue
SDG Sustainable Development Goal
UBOS Uganda Bureau of statistics
UGX Uganda Shillings
UOTIA Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act

A Report by the Auditor General III
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) was established as the regulator of higher education to
implement the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act of Parliament (UOTIA, 2001 as amended). By
the provisions of the Act, NCHE is mandated to guide the establishment of institutions of higher learning as
well as ensure delivery of quality and relevant education to all qualified persons.
NCHE has strived to achieve its mandate to ensure that sustainable quality higher education is provided at all
Higher Educational Institutions in Uganda. However, there are chronic problems of staffing and inadequate
research in universities1 that impede the achievement of quality education. This is coupled with the increase
in number of universities. To date, the country has 9 public and 43 private universities.
The overall objective of the study was to assess the extent to which NCHE has ensured that universities
comply with the operational and quality standards necessary for the delivery of quality higher education in
Uganda.
KEY AUDIT FINDINGS

During the three year period ending 30th June 2018, NCHE received 4,237 applications, of which 3,523,
representing 83.1% were assessed for accreditation. It also granted 13 provisional licenses, 10 letters of
interim authority to private universities and granted permission to universities to establish 9 branches and
campuses. Despite these achievements, the following inadequacies were noted.
a) Monitoring and institutional audits

NCHE inadequately conducted monitoring and institutional audits during the period despite UGX 331,954,999
being provided. In the period 2015/16 to 2017/18 NCHE planned to undertake 60 monitoring visits of
universities. Although management reported that they had conducted 30 monitoring visits, audit could only
confirm eleven (11) monitoring visits, of which, three (3) were discussed by Council in the period. In addition,
NCHE neither organised peer institutional audits nor undertook external institutional audits. This was due
to inadequate allocation and utilisation of activity funds and low staffing to conduct the activity. This has led
to universities continuing to run unaccredited/unrevised programmes, unreviewed charters and provisional
licences, admitting students without equating their foreign study qualification, and universities providing
poor physical facilities. This affects the quality of higher education in the country.
b) Conducting of tracer studies by NCHE and universities

NCHE conducted two tracer studies in 2011 and 2015 for cohorts of 2001 and 2011 respectively, contrary to the
good practice of having studies conducted for cohorts of within 2-3 years. Moreover the studies were limited
to an average of 6 universities and 16 programmes and 2000 graduates. Instead of at least 26 universities,
1000 programmes and 20,000 graduates. The expected 2018 tracer study was not conducted despite UGX 90
million being budgeted in the period. The universities were also noted not to have conducted tracer studies.
This was attributed to the universities not being compelled to undertake the studies. There is no information
system in place to enable NCHE to track all graduates in the country. This contributes to the continuous
mismatch between the needed graduate programmes and content with the labour market requirements.
1 NCHE 2018 annual performance report

IV A Report by the Auditor General
c) Minimum standards of courses of study
I also noted that NCHE had established minimum standards for only 43 (2%) of the 2,104 courses of study.
By April 2016, 38 of the 43 courses had since expired and were neither reviewed nor published. This led to
programmes being accredited without a check to up to date standards which may compromise the quality
of programmes taught.
As a result, NCHE has accredited 2,100 programmes without checking them against up to date minimum
standards for courses of study.
KEY AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS

The NCHE management should;
a) Plan adequately, prioritize and allocate its resources, including the mandatory students’ fees
collections, to conduct its statutory obligations of monitoring and institutional audits, Tracer
studies and minimum standards of courses of study,
b) Enforce compliance by ensuring that all Universities offering un-accredited and/or courses whose
accreditations are unrevised submit them for review leading to accreditation and/or re-
accreditation or else have their licenses revoked,
c) Enforce the conducting of tracer studies by the universities and consider developing guidelines and
simpler templates for use by universities when undertaking tracer studies, and
d) Government should build and empower the capacity of NCHE to undertake its mandate adequately,
through a renewed policy with punitive measures for non-compliance.
OVERALL AUDIT CONCLUSION

Whereas the National Council of Higher Education has undertaken specific interventions aimed at increasing
the quality of higher education in universities, inadequate monitoring and conducting of institutional
audits and tracer studies and non-establishment of minimum standards of courses of study have resulted
in universities mounting unaccredited and outdated programmes, operating below the required quality
assurance and capacity indicators, which has an effect on the quality of higher education.
It is hoped that with the appropriate stakeholder engagement and policy review, the inadequacies in the
higher education sector will be reduced to enable the country to benefit from improved quality of higher
education, increase in employment prospects and more competent service delivery.

A Report by the Auditor General V
CHAPTER ONE
01

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
Higher education plays a key role in the development of any nation. For Uganda, it is a pillar in the attainment
of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No 4 - ensuring, inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all by
2040. The National Development Plan (NDP) II prioritised human capital development and gave prominence
to the role of higher education towards attainment of the middle-income status.
The liberalisation of higher education in Uganda opened the education space, allowing both public and
private sector players to participate, and hence an increase in the number of higher education institutions.
To date, the country has 9 public and 43 private universities registered and regulated by National Council of
Higher Education (NCHE), with over 270,070 students enrolled in the higher institutions of learning by 20152.
1.2 MOTIVATION
To date, universities have continued to train and produce graduates every year in some fields that are neither
relevant on the labour market nor in high demand, which has worsened graduate unemployment3.
The NDP II notes that Uganda’s labour market continues to face a shortage of requisite skills, with only few
people being in possession of some form of higher education qualification. There is a mismatch between
the curriculum at the higher education institutions and the labour market requirements, which explains the
high graduate unemployment rates on Uganda’s labour market4.
In addition, the National Planning Authority (NPA) noted that the physical facilities in many universities were
not commensurate to the increasing enrolment numbers in the higher education institutions. This therefore
calls for proper regulation of Universities by National Council of Higher Education (NCHE).
The Auditor General’s report of 2017, also highlighted inadequate implementation of NCHE activities like
audit inspections, existence of unaccredited programmes being offered in the public universities and some
universities operating without valid licenses.
It is against this background that the Office of the Auditor General undertook an independent review of the
extent of regulation of higher education by NCHE.
1.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE AUDIT AREA

1.3.1 General description
The NCHE is a semi-autonomous and self-accounting body with a Secretariat headed by the Executive
Director (ED). The day-to-day management of the Council affairs is vested in the Secretariat, headed by an
ED appointed by the Minister of Education. The ED, who reports to the Council, is also the Accounting Officer
and Secretary to Council.
2 UBOS statistics on higher education census

3 “The places of universities in National Human Resource Planning for Vision 2040”, paper by NPA, October 2017.
4 NDP II

2 A Report by the Auditor General
The audit focussed on the activities of the the Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation (DQAA)
which is responsible for regulating the operations of the private and public universities in Uganda. These
activities included; setting of minimum standards of course of study, monitoring and inspections of higher
education institutions and institutional audits.
1.3.2 Legal Framework

The Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act (UOTIA), 2001 (as amended), established the NCHE as
a statutory agency to regulate higher education, guide the establishment of institutions of higher learning
and to ensure quality and relevant higher education5. Section 7 of the Act, provides for the establishment of
the NCHE Council, as the supreme governing body. The Council has 20 members, headed by a Chairperson,
deputised by a Vice Chairperson and then other stakeholders who represent various interest groups.
The day-to-day management of the Council affairs is vested in the Secretariat, headed by an Executive
Director (ED) appointed by the Minister of Education. He is also the Accounting Officer and Secretary to
Council.
1.3.3 Vision and Mission

Vision:
The NCHE vision is; “A Uganda with Accessible, equitable, relevant, and sustainable quality higher education”.
Mission:
Its Mission is; “To ensure provision of relevant and sustainable quality higher education for development and
transformation of society”.
1.3.4 NCHE Objective

The overall objective of NCHE6 is to ensure improved standards of higher education institutions that are able
to provide relevant quality world-class education to all qualifying Ugandans.
Specific Objectives
NCHE’s specific objectives include:-
a) Ensuring adherence to minimum operational and quality standards for provision of higher
education in the country;
b) To gather and avail evidence-based data and information to inform effective planning and delivery
of quality higher education in Uganda; and
c) To regulate delivery of quality higher education in Uganda in a sustainable manner.
1.3.5 NCHE Activities

The activities7 undertaken by NCHE include:-
a) Conducting human capital assessment of the country;
b) Setting minimum standards for courses of study;
c) Accrediting higher institutions and programmes of study; and
d) Monitoring, evaluating, inspecting, and auditing of institutions of Higher Education.
5 NCHE strategic plan 2012-2017.

6 NCHE strategic plan -16/17
7 Section 5 of the UOTIA Act

A Report by the Auditor General 3
1.3.6 Organisational Structure
The ED heads the Secretariat, which undertakes the day-to-day operations of NCHE. The Deputy ED
assists the ED. In the execution of the policies of the NCHE, the Heads of Departments, who constitute the
management team, assist the ED. NCHE has five Directors responsible for Legal; Research, Documentation
and Development; Finance; Management Support Services; and Quality Assurance and Accreditation. For
details, Appendix 1 refers.
1.3.7 NCHE Funding

The NCHE is financed by Government of Uganda (GoU) and the development partners. NCHE also collects Non
Tax Revenue (NTR) through students’ fees contributions and application fees for licensing and accreditation.
The funding for NCHE over a three-year period is shown below:
Table 1: Funding
Source 2015/16 2016/2017 2017/2018
Budgeted Actual Budgeted Actual Budgeted Actual
(UGX bn) (UGX bn) (UGX bn) (UGX bn) (UGX bn) (UGX bn)
GoU 2.00 1.93 2.00 1.72 2.00 1.66
NTR 7.30 3.82 6.81 4.10 5.85 5.13
Donor 0.90 0.06 1.00 0.07 0.50 0.46
Total 10.2 5.81 9.81 5.89 8.35 7.25
Source: NCHE Annual approved budgets and audited financial statements for 2015/16 – 2017/2018
1.4 AUDIT OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the audit was to assess the extent to which NCHE has ensured that universities
comply with the operational and quality standards necessary for the delivery of quality higher education in
Uganda.
The specific audit objectives were to:-

a) Ascertain the extent to which NCHE conducts monitoring and institutional audits of selected
universities;
b) Establish whether NCHE has conducted human capital assessments of the country;
c) Evaluate the extent to which NCHE has established minimum standards for courses of study in
Uganda.
1.5 AUDIT SCOPE

The study was undertaken at NCHE Headquarters at the Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation,
focusing on the extent to which universities adhered to the quality assurance and capacity indicators. The
study also evaluated the extent to which NCHE undertook monitoring, carried out institutional audits,
established minimum standards of courses of study and carried out human capacity assessment. In addition,
the study involved visiting main campuses of the selected private and public universities. The audit covered
three financial years from 2015/16 to 2017/18.

CHAPTER TWO
02

CHAPTER TWO
AUDIT METHODOLOGY
The audit was conducted in accordance with the a) Document Review

International Organization of Supreme Audit The team reviewed monitoring reports and annual
Institutions Auditing Standards and guidelines in performance reports by NCHE, the quality assurance
the Office of the Auditor General’s Value for Money framework, the UOTIA, and university documentation
manual. The standards require that the audit be relating to governance, infrastructure, publication,
planned in a manner that ensures that an audit of research, student enrolment, staffing gaps, among
high quality is carried out in an economic, efficient others. The documentation was to provide criteria for
and effective way. the compliance with the required capacity indicators,
in addition to answering the audit questions.
2.1 SAMPLING Appendix 3 sets out the details.
The audit team accessed and reviewed documents
for all 52 universities to assess their accreditation b) Interviews
status. For inspection, all the public universities The team conducted interview with NCHE top
were considered for the sampling. Out of the 9 management, the staff of the Quality Assurance
public universities in Uganda, two universities, and Accreditation Department, and selected quality
namely Makerere and Soroti were eliminated from assurance officers in universities, directors and, in
the sample because the former had previously been some instances, the university Vice Chancellors,
assessed on compliance while the latter was yet to Appendix 4 refers. In addition, the team administered
open to the public. an assessment questionnaire to capture data on
compliance by universities to the capacity indicator
5 public universities were then randomly sampled benchmarks. Appendix 5 sets out the details.
to be inspected from the remaining 7, these being
Busitema University, Muni University, Mbarara c) Inspection
University of Science and Technology, Lira University The team visited the fourteen selected universities,
and Kabale University. where physical infrastructure was inspected, to
ascertain the extent to which they complied with the
In addition, out of the 43 private universities in capacity indicator benchmarks set by NCHE.
Uganda, 9 private universities were randomly
selected for inspection. These included ISBAT 2.3 DATA ANALYSIS
University, Ndejje University, International The data collected from the universities was analysed
University of East Africa, Stafford University, Clarke using a statistical package for Social Sciences
International University, Nkumba University, St. (SPSS) software to provide descriptive statistics
Lawrence University, Kampala University, and Team of the findings, to the extent of establishing which
University. In total therefore, 14 universities were universities had complied with the ideal capacity
identified for inspection. indicator levels. Audit used Excel Microsoft to analyse
the data collected from document review.
2.2 DATA COLLECTION
The audit team collected data using the methods Furthermore, audit compared the programmes
below, for which details are contained in Appendix offered by universities with the NCHE 2017/18
2:- database for accredited university programmes to
ascertain the universities running un-accredited
programmes.

CHAPTER THREE
03

CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEMS AND PROCESS DESCRIPTION
3.1 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF b) Principal Higher Education Officer -

KEY PLAYERS Monitoring
This section presents the key stakeholders involved in The HEO responsible for monitoring carries out the
the activities of the provision of university education, day-to-day activities of monitoring of the universities;
their roles, and responsibilities. undertakes inspections of universities; development
of minimum standards of courses of study for
3.1.1 National Council of Higher Education universities and engages in the preparation of the
This is the legal body mandated to regulate disseminative reports (for instance on minimum
Universities in Uganda. The role of Council includes standards development), for the attention of the
quality assurance and accreditation, establishing Director Quality Assurance and Accreditation.
minimum standards of courses of study, human
capital assessment, monitoring among other roles c) Principal Higher Education Officer -
as stipulated by the Universities and Other Tertiary Certification, Verification and Equating of
Institutions Act (UOTIA). The Council undertakes Qualifications
its duties through the NCHE secretariat, headed by The HEO responsible for Certification, Verification
the ED. The secretariat is made of 5 departments, and Equating of Qualifications is responsible for
however for this study the focus was on the the applications for certification and equating
Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation. of qualifications from foreign institutions before
admissions into universities and organising
Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation awareness workshops to inform the general public
The Department of Quality Assurance and and relevant stakeholders on the emerging issues
Accreditation (DQAA) reports to the Executive regarding certification and equating of Qualifications
Director through the Deputy ED who is in charge of of Higher Education institutions.
Quality Assurance. The DQAA Plans and budgets for
its activities in liason with the finance department. Department of Research, Development and
The Department’s mandate includes setting quality Documentation
assurance and capacity indicators for univiersities, The Director is the head of Research, Development
reviewing and developing minimum standards for and Documentation and reports to the ED through
courses of study, monitoring, conducting instituional the Deputy ED; advises and reports on all matters of
audits and constantly updates acceptable quality Research, Development and Documentation within
indicators for the universities. The other offices NCHE; collects, evaluates and publishes information
that are critical in fulfilling the mandate of this relating to students institutions of Higher Education;
department are discussed below: and ensures regular quality checks in the Higher
Education information dissemination services,
a) Principal Higher Education Officer - conducts human capital assessments, for instance
Licensing and Accreditation producing tracer studies.
The Higher Education Officer (HEO) responsible
for licensing and accreditation is in charge of
applications for the establishment of universities; and
accreditation of programmes taught in Universities.

Department of Finance and Administration The minimum standards form the pillars of
The Department is headed by the Finance Director programme development at the training institutions.
and reports to the Executive Director; prepares The Universities are then expected to develop their
documents and presents annual budgets for NCHE programmes while building on the existing minimum
after consolidating individual department budgets; standards. At the point of submission of programmes
reconciles and ensures that student contributory for accreditation to NCHE, individual universities
funds are collected and allocated to support council are expected to comply with the requirements of
mandate activities. minimum standards of courses of study with regard
to the programmes they submit for accreditation.
3.1.2 Higher Education Institutions
The Higher Education Institutions are charged with Accreditation of Higher Institutions
governing and managing their institutional affairs a) Issuance of Letter of Interim Authority for a
and abiding by the regulations and quality assurance proposed private university
framework standards. They are also required to An applicant applies to NCHE8, by filling and submitting
carry out quality assurance activities, including NCHE form 7. The application is accompanied by the
internal quality assurance reviews (institutional information required under section 95a (2) of the
audits), and peer reviews. In addition, they ensure UOTIA which contains information such as the name
that students have paid the mandatory fees to NCHE of the proposed university, proposed location, the
before registering with the respective institution. name or names of the promoters of the universities,
and proposed governance structure. The payment of
3.2 PROCESS DESCRIPTION the required fees and verification (desk and physical),
The NCHE activities are implemented as described if successful, leads to the award of a letter of interim
below:- authority, that would be valid for three years.
3.2.1 Minimum standards for courses of b) Provisional Licensing

study After the three years have unrevised, an application is
The NCHE under the Department of Quality Assurance made to the NCHE for a provisional license to establish
and Accreditation derives concepts on programmatic and operate a private university by individuals
themes in order to develop minimum standards of wanting to set up the institution. The persons obtain
courses of study, which is done in conjunction with and fill application forms from the NCHE, attach
an assessment of the human capital of the country the required supporting documentation, and make
(tracer studies). A hybrid document is then developed payments, depending on the type of application.
in conjunction with the expert(s) in the subject
specific area, which is then discussed with a large NCHE, on receipt of the application organizes a
audience involving representatives from professional meeting or series of meetings with the applicant
bodies, practitioners, industry and students, among to verify the resources and information submitted
others. with the application. The verification team assesses
the institution against the capacity indicators in the
The reviewed hybrid document is then circulated quality assurance framework for compliance on
to training institutions and other stakeholders for physical infrastructure, quality of teaching staff,
validation. On completion, the edited document is library and other requirements.
processed through the internal organs of NCHE for
endorsement.
8 Quality assurance Framework for universities and the licensing process for higher Education Institutions, 2014

NCHE, on receipt of the application organizes a meeting or series of meetings with the applicant to verify
the resources and information submitted with the application. The verification team assesses the institution
against the capacity indicators in the quality assurance framework for compliance on physical infrastructure,
quality of teaching staff, library and other requirements.
A verification report is prepared and submitted by the appointed team to the QA/AD, who then reviews and
submits the same to the top management of the NCHE. The NCHE equally reviews and submits to the quality
assurance and accreditation committee of the board through the ED. A provisional license is then issued to a
private university and will be valid for at least three years from the date of publication in the Gazette.
c) Issue of Charter
A university operating under a provisional licence for a period of not less than three years is eligible to apply
for a Charter. The applicant is provided with a copy of the requirements as contained in section 100(2) of the
Act by the NCHE Secretariat.
If the Council is satisfied with the evaluation report on the activities of the applicant under the provisional
license in conducting its operations as envisaged in its earlier applications, an inspection committee is
appointed by the NCHE. The inspection committee makes an inquiry and ascertains the reliability of the
information submitted by the applicant, submits to the national council a report on the private university for
consideration. The President, through the minister, grants a charter. The NCHE Council evaluates charters
after every five years.
3.2.2 Accreditation of Programmes

All programme applications for accreditation are forwarded to the Director Quality Assurance and
Accreditation who passes them to the officer in-charge of programmes through the Head of University Unit.
The officer in-charge of programmes is expected to verify that the submitted programmes meet the NCHE
assessment criteria (minimum standards for course of study). He is required to collate the salient facts
about an institution that include the list of staff (as per the Capacity Indicators in the QA Framework) to
support the programmes and the validity of their academic qualifications among others. The programmes
that fail are brought to the attention of the Head of University Unit and are subsequently returned to the
institutions for further improvements.
The officer in-charge of programmes on completing the above, enlists all programmes which are ready for
assessment and in consultation with the Head of University Unit, identify assessors for endorsement by
the Director Quality Assurance and Accreditation. Programmes are assessed in four (4) cycles in line with
the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Committee and Council schedules. For instance, the programmes
that are received in January are assessed within January to mid-February. All programme assessments are
done at location/center and do not last for more than five (5) days. Assessment reports are processed and
forwarded through the internal organs that include QA department, Top Management, Quality Assurance
Committee and Council for endorsement. The accredited programmes are valid for five years. Besides
accreditation, the department also equates qualifications attained outside Uganda.

3.2.3 Monitoring
Monitoring is a core function of NCHE. A checklist (Quality and assessment indicators) is used to ascertain
compliance. Monitoring is based on prior reports from inspectors to assess whether the recommendations
and standards set by NCHE are adhered to. Monitoring exercises can also be planned as a result of complaints
over a training institution, or where it is deemed a training institution is performing well so best practices
may be emulated. The monitoring activities are planned prior to commencement, and are conducted by
respective resource persons, namely experts, technical officers and supervisors.
On completion of the monitoring activity, a report is provided to NCHE by the appointed team. A copy of the
said report is also availed to institution monitored for their notice and areas of action, where necessary. The
NCHE Council is informed of the monitoring outcome.
3.2.4 Institutional Quality Audit

This is a requirement under Section 99 of the UOTIA, 2001 (as amended), for universities with provisional
license, Section 15 of the Statutory Instrument No. 34 of 2008 for universities holding a Charter and the
provisions of the Quality Assurance Framework (2014) for public universities. The university is required to
conduct an independent self-assessment (Internal institutional audit) of its operations in all categories of
the quality assurance framework. This self-review is expected to be completed in two (2) years and thereafter
the self-assessment report is submitted to NCHE for review.
The NCHE then appoints and trains peer reviewers to cross check the information submitted by the
institutions in a process referred to as peer assessment (External Audit). Peer-assessment can be done on
the institutional facilities/infrastructure or the on the academic programmes. This process also takes two
years, implying the two audits take four years. The fifth year is used to address any identified challenges in
external and internal audits. The NCHE reviews (external institutional audit) the courses accredited but not
taught in the universities, unaccredited programmes taught and any issues reported by peer reviewers in
the fifth year.
3.2.5 Compliance with payment of student fees

Statutory Instrument No 17 of 2017 requires all registering students to remit UGX.20,000 to the accounts of
NCHE annually. The Secretariat of the NCHE reviews the status of compliance of the mandatory contribution
per student before they register at the university. The university administration registers annually only
those students who have made the payment to the NCHE bank account. The finance department and top
management allocate student annual fees to contribute to council activities, such as, monitoring, tracer
studies, reviewing and developing minimum standards for courses of study, human capital assessments,
among other core activities.
3.2.6 Research and information dissemination

The Department of Research periodically evaluates the overall national manpower requirement together
with other national organisations, for instance Uganda Bureau of statistics and National Planning Authority.
The Department is supposed to conduct tracer studies for year cohort graduates who will have graduated
between 2-3 years before the year of the study.

04
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents notable achievements of NCHE. In addition, it presents findings, conclusions and
recommendations on areas where the entity needs to improve to ensure that universities supply the labour
market with labour force of required calibre.
Notable Achievements
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, NCHE received 4,237 applications, of which 3,523, representing 83.1% were
assessed for accreditation. This achievement was attributed to NCHE co-opting university staff to undertake
the assessment of the applications. Figure 1 refers.
Figure 1: Comparison of applications and assessments of programmes
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000 Applications submitted
800 Programmes Assessed
600
400
200
0
2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Source: analysed data from state of higher education reports 2015-2018
Of the assessed applications, an average of 39.5 % were accredited in the period under review. The highest
percentage of accredited courses was 44.5% in the FY 2016/17. See Table 2 below:
Table 2: Programmes assessed
Period Programmes Assessed Programmes Accredited % of applications accredited
2015/16 1432 473 33.0%
2016/17 944 420 44.5%
2017/18 1,147 471 41.1%
Total 3,523 1,364
Source: analysis of data from NCHE Reports

Besides the accreditation of programmes, NCHE in the FYs 2015/16 to 2017/18 also granted 13 provisional
licenses, 10 letters of interim authority to private universities and granted permission to universities to
establish 9 branches and campuses. Refer to Table 3 below:
Table 3: Licenses and authorisations granted

Period Provisional license Letter of Interim Authority Branches and campuses
2015/16 8 1 2
2016/17 2 2 1
2017/18 3 7 6
Total 13 10 9
Source: NCHE Annual performance reports
In the same period, management, revoked two licenses of Busoga University, and Stafford University; and
issued three intentions to revoke licenses: St. Lawrence University, Kayiwa International University, and
Nsaka University.
Areas of Improvement
Regulation is enforced through institutional and programme compliance with legislative requirements
for registration; availability of governance and management structures conducive to delivery of quality
education and a commitment to the promotion of an environment conducive to pursuit of academic
excellence. Despite the notable achievements of NCHE, field inspections, document reviews and interviews
with various stakeholders revealed instances of inadequacy in the implementation of key activities cardinal
to the attainment of the Council’s mandate as discussed below:
4.1 MONITORING AND INSTITUTIONAL AUDITS

According to Section 5(g) of the UOTIA, the NCHE is expected to monitor the operations of universities. In
addition, Section 3 of the Quality Assurance Framework requires NCHE to conduct external institutional
audits in the Universities in a sequence of five years, after peer and self-reviews have been conducted.
Furthermore, section 1.3.2 of the principles and guidelines for quality assurance in higher education, requires
NCHE to engage in external quality assurance activities, which include accrediting universities on the basis
of pre-determined minimum standards, monitoring and evaluating quality assurance aspects in universities
and auditing universities for continuous enhancement of quality.
However, audit noted the following inadequacies in monitoring and institutional audit;
4.1.1 Monitoring of universities

NCHE in the period 2015/16 to 2017/18 planned to undertake 60 monitoring visits of universities. Although
management reported that they had conducted 30 monitoring visits at a cost of UGX.331.954,999, it was
observed that only 11 were supported with monitoring reports, and only 3 had been discussed by Council and
Top Management. Refer to Table 4.

Table 4: Universities with monitoring reports
Year University Date of Report
2015/16 Busoga University (Draft report) Dec 2015
Team University Feb 2016
UTAMU Kampala Feb 2016
St. Lawrence University Nov 2015
International Health Science University Dec 2015
Muteesa 1 Royal University Dec 2015
2016/17 All Saints University Uganda Sept 2016
Ibanda University Nov 2016
All Saints University Uganda Dec 2017
2017/18 Cavendish University April 2018
Kayiwa International University April 2018
Source: analysed reports submitted by NCHE
4.1.2 Institutional audits

NCHE is supposed to organise peer institutional audits and conduct external audits. Through interviews with
management, it was revealed that NCHE neither organised peer institutional audits nor undertook external
institutional audits. The institutional audit activities were actually not planned in the period under review -
2015/16 to 2017/18.
The inadequate monitoring and the failure to undertake institutional audits by NCHE were caused by a
number of factors, but mainly the following:
Inadequate allocation of funds for monitoring

A review of the annual performance reports for the financial years 2015/16 to 2017/18, budgets and financial
statements, revealed that NCHE budgeted to undertake 60 university monitoring visits in the three years at
a cost UGX.524,999,000 but only allocated UGX.331,954,999. Refer to Table 5.
Table 5: Planned, budgeted and actual allocations

FY Planned Actual
Budget (UGX) Outputs (Units) Expenditure (UGX) Outputs (Units)
2015/16 149,999,000 20 143,954,999 10
2016/17 175,000,000 20 88,000,000 10
2017/18 200,000,000 20 100,000,000 10
Total 524,999,000 60 331,954,999 30
Source: Budget, performance reports and financial statements from NCHE
Scrutiny of the expenditure vis-à-vis the actual outputs (monitoring visits) revealed that for the FYs 2016/17
and 2017/18, the outputs were more or less commensurate to the funds spent, in view of the unit costs.
However, in the FY 2015/16 NCHE was inefficient in utilising the funds. Instead of undertaking a monitoring
visit at the planned unit cost of UGX.7,499,950, the entity instead spent UGX.14,395,500, resulting in fewer
visits undertaken.

Instead of the possible 19, NCHE only carried out 10 monitoring visits, given the funding available of
UGX.143,954,999. Refer to the Graph below.
Figure 2: Analysis of planned and actual unit cost monitoring activities
16,000,000
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
Planned (Unit Cost)
8,000,000
Actual (Unit cost)
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0
2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Source: OAG analysis of NCHE data
Analysis of the fund allocations, revealed that funds allocation for monitoring activities were meagre,
considering the student fees of UGX.20,000 charged on all higher education institution students annually.
These funds are meant to fund mainly monitoring activities, which is at the core of NCHEs mandate. In the
years under review, NCHE collected a total of UGX.9,259,034,392. Refer to the Table 6.
Table 6: Allocation of students’ fees collections to monitoring activities

FY Total Students fees collection Monitoring Expenditure Monitoring to Total NCHE Expenditure
(UGX) (UGX) %age
2015/16 2,978,337,336 143,954,999 4.8
2016/17 2,884,304,902 88,000,000 3.1
2017/18 3,396,392,154 100,000,000 2.9
Total 9,259,034,392 331,954,999
Source: OAG analysis of NCHE data on expenditure and revenue
Analysis of allocation of funds collected from students revealed that whereas funds generally increased,
the allocation for monitoring reduced. In the FY 2015/16, NCHE allocated 4.8% of the total students’ fees
collection. This situation worsened in the FY 2016/17 and 2017/18 with allocations of 3.1% and 2.9% despite
having fund balances of UGX.175,558,573 and UGX.188,528,827 respectively on the student’s collection
account.

Inadequate staffing
The quality assurance and accreditation department has 9 staff as opposed to 23 provided for in the
organisation structure, to handle monitoring and compliance, and accrediting institutions and programmes.
Table 7 below refers. Unlike the assessment activities, where university staffs are co-opted, the monitoring
is undertaken by strictly staff of NCHE.
It is evident that with 52 universities, and 250 other higher education institutions, a fully staffed quality
assurance and accreditation department cannot adequately undertake monitoring activities in these
institutions. In comparison with Rwanda’s Council of Higher Education, the body charged with regulating
higher education institutions has a staff strength of 7 in the department of quality assurance and is
responsible for 16 public and private universities.
Table 7: Quality assurance and accreditation department staffing levels

Position Establishment Actual Variance
1 Director Quality assurance 1 1 0
2 Principal Higher education Officer 4 2 2
3 Senior Higher education Officer (M&C) 9 3 6
4 Higher education officer (technical) 9 3 6
Total 23 9 14
Source: OAG analysis of data from NCHE
Inadequate punitive regulation

In regulating higher education, NCHE is required to establish regulations and guidelines under which
universities are to operate. However, it was noted that the existing statutory obligations in the higher
education sector do not arm the Council to institute punitive measures against the non-compliance actions
of the universities. This inadequacy leads to complacent behaviour by certain universities towards the quality
requirements.
Consequences of inadequate monitoring and failure to undertake institutional audits

The consequences of the inadequate monitoring of the universities and the failure to undertake peer and
external institutional audits by NCHE include;
a) Unaccredited programmes being offered by universities

The inadequate monitoring resulted in universities offering unaccredited programmes or programmes
whose accreditations had unrevised, contrary to section 3 of the quality assurance framework. It was noted
that on average, only 43.5% of courses offered by 15 selected universities, were accredited. The universities
of Busitema, Lira and ISBAT had fairly all their courses accredited and up-to-date (within five years after
accreditations)9. Table 8 below refers.
9 NCHE Database of Accredited courses as at May 2018

Table 8: Status of University programme accreditation
Number of Unrevised Unaccredited Total No. of % of
accredited courses courses Programmes on accredited
courses (b) (c) Database as of courses
(a) June 2018 (a/(c+d))
(d)
1 Lira University 10 0 0 10 100.0%
2 ISBAT University 18 3 0 21 85.7%
3 Busitema University 54 15 0 69 78.3%
4 MUST 53 24 0 77 68.8%
5 Muni University 3 3 0 6 50.0%
6 St. Lawrence University 24 26 0 50 48.0%
7 Clarke International 9 12 0 21 42.9%
University/ IHSU
8 Team University 7 8 2 15 41.2%
9 Ndejje University 75 112 0 187 40.1%
10 Nkumba University 74 115 0 189 39.2%
11 International University of 7 31 0 38 18.4%
East Africa
12 Kabale University 12 77 0 89 13.5%
13 Kampala International 25 124 56 149 12.2%
University
14 Stafford University 2 0 22 2 8.3%
15 Kampala University 6 95 0 101 5.9%
Average 43.5%
* NCHE Accreditation Database, NCHE data in responses to draft ML

** Brochures, websites & Graduation books
Un-reviewed charter and provisional licenses

Another challenge posed by the above inadequacies was universities operating under un-reviewed charters.
Out of the 4 private and chartered universities that were inspected, 3 had not been reviewed by the 5th year
of operation, contrary to regulation 15(3) of the Statutory Instrument No.34 2008 of the Universities and
Other Tertiary Institutions (Quality assurance) regulations. By the time of audit (June 2018), the Universities
of Nkumba, Kampala International University, and Ndejje University had taken 6, 4 and 4 years respectively,
from the year of the expected review. Refer to Table 9 below.
Table 9: Universities with un-reviewed charters

University Charter license year Expected year of review Years after expected review
Kampala International University 2009 2014 4
Nkumba University 2007 2012 6
Ndejje University 2009 2014 4
Kampala University 2016 N/A

In addition, section 97(3) of the UOTIA, 2001 (as amended), requires provisional licenses to be held for three
years from the date of publication of the university in the gazette. It was noted that 20 universities holding
provisional licenses were not assessed for progression to charter staus, after 3 years of holding provisional
licenses. Table 10 refers.
Table 10: Universities with more than 3 years of holding provisional licenses
University Provisional University Provisional
license year license year
1 Aga Khan University 2001 11 Cavendish University 2008
2 Kumi University 2004 12 International University of East Africa 2010
3 African Bible University 2005 13 Victoria University 2010
4 Mountains of the Moon University 2005 14 St. Augustine International University 2011
5 Uganda Pentecostal University 2005 15 Virtual University of Uganda 2011
6 St. Lawrence University 2007 16 African Rural University 2011
7 Muteesa I Royal University 2007 17 Livingstone International University 2011
8 Cavendish University 2008 18 Uganda Technology and Management 2013
University (UTAMU)
9 All Saints University, Lango 2008 19 Africa Renewal University 2013
10 Clarke International University 2008 20 Nsaka University 2013
b) Equating of qualifications for minimum entry requirement

A review of ten randomly selected student files from universities that were inspected revealed that the
universities of St. Lawrence, Team, Ndejje and Clarke International admitted foreign students without NCHE
equating their admission qualifications in accordance with section 3 (b) and 5 (j) of the UOTIA. This implies
that such students may not satisfy the minimum criteria for admission to the under-graduate and/or higher
degree programmes in Uganda and thus their qualifications may be brought to question in future.
c) Non-compliance with quality assurance and capacity standards

Regulations 4 and 7 of the statutory instrument No.85 (2005) institutional standards and 80 B – quality
assurance and capacity indicators, set quality standards and capacity indicators that universities are
supposed to adhere to. Document review and field inspections of 14 universities revealed non-adherence
with set indicator parameters. For instance, in terms of infrastructure, only 4 universities had the required
computer laboratory space; 5 had the required science laboratory space and 7 had the required Library
space. In terms of the Education facilities indicator, only 29% of the universities had the recommended
student to library book (hard copy) ratio. Appendix 6 refers.
The inadequacy in these critical capacity indicators affects the ability of staff and students to research,
publish and innovate. For instance, only Mbarara University had more than one research project winning
sponsorship every academic year, while St. Lawrence University, Stafford and Team University never had any
publications by staff in the period of review. The importance of research cannot be over emphasised, since
in the developed world, knowledge-based economies, research and innovation powers long-term economic
growth.

Although the Universities decried limited number of PhD staff, the inability to collect adequate student fees
and attract external funding, particularly in high priority areas, the universities should first demonstrate
initiative and drive to offer research based courses as opposed to duplicating courses and programmes
to attract students. By conducting research-based courses, universities may attract funding from both
Government and private sector besides being able to attract students who are capable of paying the standard
unit charges recommended by NCHE.
Box 1: Fees charged in Universities in Uganda
Universities in Uganda charge lower than the standard unit charge recommended by NCHE standard
and the ideal standard. Weighted unit cost of university education is UGX.3,519,918 yet NCHE standard is
UGX.4,528,747, while the ideal rate is UGX.5,592,932.
This is made worse with the high inter university competition of students leading to exorbitantly low fees
structure in a bid to attract students. The tuition charged by private universities is lower than that of the
public universities.
The implication of this cost structure is the inability of universities to provide adequate facilities to enable
effective learning and quality education.
Courtesy: NPA publication, 2017
Management Responses
i) The 30 monitoring visits were conducted as planned. Notably, some of the institutions were
monitored more than once due to the complexity of their compliance issues such as All Saints
University, Muteesa I Royal University, and Busoga University
ii) Institutional audits were conducted for the period 2015/16 to 2017/18 in collaboration with the Inter
University Council of East Africa.
iii) The process of re-accreditation is underway at most of the Universities. Some programmes have
been reviewed and feedback given to the respective Universities such as Kampala International
University and Kampala University. However, they have compliance issues that must be addressed
before accreditation is done.
iv) The challenge of some HEIs admitting foreign students without equating their qualifications shall
be addressed by the Integrated Management Information System since all HEIs shall be required
to submit lists of all admitted students and the criteria used as a basis for admission.
In addition, NCHE has drafted a concept for having a central admission system for all Universities
so that students admitted match the available facilities. This is going to be considered by relevant
governance organs.
v) NCHE has prioritised the compliance to standards in the current strategic plan, by setting up a unit
and this unit will ensure that institutions adhere to set minimum standards.

Audit Comments
i) Audit only reviewed eleven monitoring reports. According the Council minutes provided, audit could
only ascertain the monitoring visit reports of Kayiwa University (47th Council meeting May 2018),
Gulu university (46th Council meeting February 2018), Busoga university (39th Council meeting
March 2016). The latter minutes noted that the report of Mutesa 1 University was yet to be received.
ii) No reports were provided for institutional audits undertaken by NCHE as per the regulations. There
were no copies availed for review of any institutional audits undertaken in collaboration with the
Inter University Council of East Africa.
iii) Management did not provide evidence of correspondence and applications to indicate that re-
accreditation of the programmes was being undertaken. Audit notes that certain courses in the
universities had elapsed for over a year without starting the re-accreditation process.
iv) The central admission system and integrated Management Information system is a welcome
initiative to combat irregular admissions in the private universities.
Conclusion
Although NCHE has a clear mandate and regulatory framework to regulate the quality of higher education
through monitoring of the universities and to undertake peer and external institutional audits of higher
institutions of learning, it lacked the required capacity to adequately do so. Consequently, some universities
are undertaking unaccredited courses, admitting foreign students whose qualifications are not equated,
while some have failed to meet the minimum standards as provided by the NCHE, which compromises the
quality of university education. Universities are not placing emphasis on research to generate and/or adapt
knowledge, innovate, to integrate into the global knowledge networks10 and thus solve societal problems.
The contribution by higher institutions of learning to social transformation of the country through providing
adequate skills that match the required labor market demand may not be achieved, as envisaged by the NPA.
Recommendations
NCHE should;
i) Adequately plan, properly allocate and utilise the students’ fees collections to conduct its statutory
obligations of monitoring and institutional audits.
ii) Advocate and liaise with relevant government bodies with a view of recruiting adequate staff to
ensure effective monitoring of universities in the country.
iii) Government should build and empower the capacity of NCHE to adequately undertake its mandate
and enforce punitive measures in order to compel compliance to the standards.
iv) Enforce compliance by ensuring that all Universities offering un-accredited and/or courses whose
accreditations are unrevised submit them for review leading to accreditation and/or re-accreditation.
10 NPA paper, the place of universities in National Human resource Planning Vision, 2040, October 2017

4.2 HUMAN CAPITAL ASSESSMENT
4.2.1 Failure to undertake Tracer Studies

According to Sections 5(h, and P) of the UOTIA, 2001 (as amended); NCHE is required; to evaluate the
overall national manpower requirements and recommend appropriate solutions, and to generally advise
the government on policy and other matters relating to institutions of Higher Education. To do so, NCHE is
required to conduct tracer studies, for graduates who would have graduated between 2-3 years, to establish
whether the knowledge and skills acquired by graduates are adequate in the job market. Tracer surveys
involve both graduates and employers and the findings there in are a basis for curriculum review of academic
programmes11.
Through document review and interviews, it was noted that NCHE has so far conducted two tracer studies
in 2011 and 2015. The tracer study of 2015 was for graduates of 2011, involved six universities and five other
tertiary institutions (OTIs), involving 16 degree and 10 diploma programmes. The expected 2018 tracer study
for cohorts of 2015 was not conducted despite UGX 90 million being budgeted in the period. In addition, there
was no follow up of the implementation of the recommendations of the two tracer studies conducted by
NHCE.
Besides NCHE, universities are also required to undertake tracer studies, as stipulated by section 3.2.6 of
the Quality Assurance framework. In this regard, only Clarke International University out of the sampled 14
conducted a tracer study. It was established that NCHE just encouraged universities to undertake the studies
rather than compelling them to do so.
It is evident that NCHE lacks a mechanism to continuously monitor, assess and track graduates wherever
they may be working to ascertain the relevance of the programmes offered by the various higher education
institutions. NCHE stated that the conduct of tracer studies was a costly process. It was noted that there
were no standard guidelines and templates to undertake and report on tracer studies by the universities.
As a result, NCHE, universities, government and other stakeholders lack information on the relevant courses,
course content and marketable programmes that could meet the needs of the labour market. In addition,
curricula and academic programmes may not match the labour requirements. According to the NPA, the
non-responsive education curriculum to the needs of the country is one of the factors affecting the supply
of un-employable workforce.
Box 2: The Keynes argument on employment equilibrium
Keynes argues that the volume of employment in equilibrium depends on the aggregate supply function,
the propensity to consume, and the volume of investment. This theoretical perspective provides grounds for
development of the macro model for projecting imbalances on a country’s labour market.
Courtesy: NPA paper, the place of universities in National Human resource Planning Vision, 2040, October 2017
11 NCHE Tracer Study Report, 2005

Management Response
NCHE conducts tracer studies to inform the country’s needs for human resources and review of curricula.
Higher Education Institutions graduate approximately 40,000(Forty thousand students every year), due to the
limited resources NCHE usually covers a sample of about 2,000 students. The desirable is to engage at least
50% of the graduates biannually at an average cost of 500m.
Audit Comment
The cohorts traced are beyond the expected time frame and the sample of 16 university programmes
is limited in relation to the 2000 number of courses conducted in the country and the 40,000 number of
graduates per annum. There was no evidence that the 2018 tracer study was being undertaken, since it was
an output expected in the 2017/18 financial year.
Conclusion
The delay to conduct the 2018 tracer study implies that there is lack of up-to-date information about the
adequate of graduates in the job market. Due to the inefficiencies of universities aligning their curricula
to the labour needs, there is need to pursue deliberate and comprehensive approach to human capital
assessment by NCHE and all other stakeholders so as to produce graduates who will play a positive role in
the social economic transformation of the country.
Recommendations
NCHE is advised to;
a) Allocate adequate funds from the students’ fees collection to conduct the core functions of human
capital assessment and tracer studies in a timely manner.
b) Consider developing guidelines and simpler templates for use by universities when undertaking
tracer studies. The templates, if incorporated in the NCHE management information system would
render tracer research less expensive.
c) NCHE should enforce the conduct of tracer studies by the universities rather than encouraging.
4.3 MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR COURSES OF STUDY

According to Section 5(i) of the UOTIA, 2001 (as amended), NCHE is required to establish minimum standards
for courses of study. In addition, the NCHE guidelines on preparing/reviewing of minimum standards12
require the universities to submit their courses and programmes for accreditation based on the established
minimum standards of courses of study. Furthermore, the council guided13 that the minimum standards
should be reviewed after every five (5) years.
Through document review and interviews, audit noted that NCHE had established minimum standards for
only 43 (2%) of the 2,104 courses of study. By April 2016, 38 of the 43 courses had since expired and had either
not been reviewed or published.
12 The NCHE guidelines on preparing/reviewing of minimum standards

13 NCHE council minute of its sitting deciding that the minimum standards will be revised after five years.

Through interviews, it was noted that no minimum standards for courses of study were developed, although
management planned for 100 courses in the period under review. In addition, the planned review of 15
minimum standards for courses of study in the same period was not undertaken, despite UGX 118.45 million
being availed for the activity. Refer to Table 11.
Table 11: analysis of budget and actual expenditure for minimum standards
Activities 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Budget Actual Budget Actual Budget Actual
millions millions millions millions millions millions
Developing minimum standards 0 0 40 0 60 0

Reviewing minimum standards 88 88 30 30 50 0
Source: analysis of NCHE financial statements and budgets
Management is not prioritizing these activities, by not properly budgeting and allocating adequate funds
despite increase in the students’ fee collections. As a result, NCHE has accredited 2,100 (99.9%) programmes
without checking against up to date minimum standards for courses of study.
Management Response
The standards were reviewed as evidenced by the soft copies in the folder. Council approved and reviewed
during its sitting of 38th Council meeting held on 21st December 2015. Every programme is assessed by
subject experts who are selected for the exercise on the basis of expertise and experience. Other Standards
have also been developed in the areas of Engineering Facilities at Institutions, Nursing Programmmes and
requisite facilities benchmarks for Postgraduate Training.
Audit Comment
A review of the minutes of the 38th council meeting held on 21st December 2015, minute 184/38/2015/ 5, shows
that the Council approved nine minimum standards of courses of study and approved six newly developed
minimum standards of courses of study. However, five of these courses were published in January 2014 prior
to council approval. These were B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, B.Sc. Information Systems, Information
Technology, Library and Information Science, and BSc in Software Engineering. These courses will have
expired in January 2019.
There were no published standards in either hard copy or the council website for the other ten courses. The
regulation expects courses to be accredited on the basis of an approved minimum standards and not expert
knowledge at the time of reviewing courses for accreditation.
Conclusion
NCHE did not conduct and publish the fifteen budgeted minimum standards in the period of study. Audit
could not establish on which activity the released UGX 118.45 million for minimum standards was spent.
Minimum standards ensure that the course content in the programmes conducted is relevant to the needs
of the country. By not developing, and reviewing the minimum standards in a timely manner, the skills and
knowledge imparted to the students may not be in tandem with the evolving challenges of the global village.

Recommendation
Management should allocate adequate funds to ensure that minimum standards for courses of study for all
programmes are set.
OVERALL AUDIT CONCLUSION

NCHE has a mandate to regulate the quality of higher education through monitoring of the universities and to
undertake peer and external institutional audits of higher institutions of learning. Failure to undertake this
mandate adequately has led to, some universities running unaccredited courses, admitting foreign students
whose qualifications are not equated, while some have failed to meet the minimum standards as provided by
the NCHE, which compromises the quality of university education.
Universities are not placing emphasis on research to generate and/or adapt knowledge, innovate, to integrate
into the global knowledge networks14 and thus solve societal problems. NCHE is also not enforcing the
compliance with these standards by the Universities, but only encouraging them to comply.
The delay to conduct the 2018 tracer study by NCHE implies that there is lack of up-to-date information about
the adequacy of graduates in the job market. Universities are not conducting tracer studies are required.
This has led to the inefficiencies of universities aligning their curricula to the labour market requirements.
NCHE did not conduct and publish the fifteen budgeted minimum standards in the period of study.
Audit could not establish on which activity the released UGX 118.45 million for minimum standards was
spent. Minimum standards ensure that the course content in the programmes conducted is relevant to the
needs of the country.
14 NPA paper, the place of universities in National Human Resource Planning, Vision 2040, October 2017

APPENDICES
Appendix I: Organizational Structure
National Council of
Higher Education
COUNCIL COMMITTEES
- QA and Accreditation
- RDD
- Audit and RIsk
- Finance
Executive Director
Director QA and Management Support

Director Legal Director RDD Director Finance
Accreditation Services
Research and Audit, Monitoring and Human Resource and

Planning Compliance Administration Internal Audit
Institutional and
ICT, Library and
Programme
Documentation
Accreditation
Standards,
Recognition and
Equating
Qualifications

Appendix II: Data collection methodology
Audit Question Methodology

1 To what extent has NCHE estab- Audit carried out document reviews and interviews (as shown in Appendix
lished minimum standards for II and III respectively) with the director quality assurance, Principle higher
course of study in Uganda? education officer / Head Universities, the heads of quality assurance in various
universities to gain an understanding of how minimum standards for courses
of study are established, the extent of establishment, the consequences due to
inadequacies in establishing minimum standards and also corroborate
information gathered from documents reviewed relating to minimum
standards for courses of study.
2 To what extent have higher educa- A semi structured questionnaire was also administered to the heads of quality
tional institutions complied with the assurance / estate managers of the various universities to establish the extent
institutional standards set by NCHE? to which the universities faired against the quality assurance and capacity
indicator checklist established by NCHE. In addition, corroborating information
was gathered from documents reviewed as shown in Appendix 3.
Audit also physically inspected various facilities and infrastructure in the

selected universities to establish the existence and fairing with the indicators.
3 To what extent has NCHE conducted Audit reviewed the strategic plan, annual work plans, budgets, Annual
monitoring in an effective and timely performance reports, Audited financial statements for the three years 2015/16
manner? – 2017/18, to establish; the planned and Actual M&E activities, the budgeted
and Actual amounts for the M&E activities and the extent to which NCHE has
conducted monitoring.
The team interviewed Director Quality assurance, Principle higher

education officer / Head Universities, senior higher education officer, to obtain
an understanding on the extent to which NCHE conducts M&E, inspections, and
institutional audits.

Appendix III: Documents reviewed
No. Document reviewed Purpose
1 Quality assurance framework for universities and the To obtain an understanding of the Quality assurance
licensing process for higher education institutions, operations governing the higher education system in
2014 Uganda.
2 Universities and other tertiary institutions Act To obtain an understanding of the regulations governing
higher education systems.
3 NCHE Human resource manual To obtain an understanding of the organisation structure
and job descriptions of the different stake holders.
4 NCHE strategic plan 2016-2020 To obtain an understanding of the mission, vision and
activities of the council.
5 Documentation as per NCHE website To obtain an understanding of the operations and function-
alities of the council.
6 National Development Plan II To obtain an understanding of the national objectives in
regard to higher education in Uganda.
7 Programme brochures, timetables and • To obtain a listing of academic programmes
university websites. Other university conducted by the universities.
materials; Graduation books, Time tables for courses
of study, strategic plans, financial statements, • To verify whether universities are in compliance with the
certificates of accreditations, senate and council quality assurance framework checklist.
minutes, research publications by staff, lists of
students, staff list with their qualifications, land titles.
8 NCHE accreditation database To obtain a listing of the accredited courses as at May 2018.
9 NCHE Annual performance reports To obtain an understanding of the performance of NCHE
over the period under review.
10 Financial statements 2015/16 – 2017/18
11 NCHE work plans and budgets
Appendix IV: Interviews held

No. Interviewee Purpose
1 Quality assurance and accreditation • To obtain an understanding of the Quality assurance operations governing
director the higher education system in Uganda
• To obtain an understanding of the processes involved in the accreditation of

both programmes and higher education institutions.
2 Human resource personnel To obtain an understanding of the Organisation structure and job descriptions
of the different stake holders.
3 Senior Higher Education Officer- To obtain an understanding of the processes involved in the accreditation of
Universities both programmes and higher education institutions.
4 University Secretary -Kyambogo To obtain an understanding of the processes involving the university and
university NCHE.
5 Vice chancellor –Team university To obtain understanding on the limitation of compliance with the quality as-
surance standards
6 Vice chancellor Ndejje University To obtain understanding on the limitation of compliance with the quality as-
surance standards.
7 NCHE top management (Executive To discuss the preliminary findings of the inadequacies in the universities and
Director NCHE, department heads obtain an understanding of the shortcomings of the council.
of finance and quality assurance)

Appendix V: Quality Assurance Framework Indicators
ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR UNIVERSITIES AND PROGRAMMES

Name of Institution:
Interviewees:
Tick where appropriate
S/N Item Ideal Good Acceptable Can be Unacceptable Remark

improved
1. Land for campus/ 10-30 acres 5-10 acres 3-5 acres 3 acres Less than 3
urban acres
2. Land: Rural 50 acres or 30-50 acres 20-30 acres 10 acres Less than 10
over acres
3 Governance
(i) Council In control of operational In place To be Does not meet
policy elected
(ii) Senate Supervises Meets often In place Meets when Administration to
all academic need arises make decisions
policy
(iii) Administration Appointed Respects Consults with Meets with Insensitive to
legally by administrative staff and staff staff concerns
council structures students
(iv) Staff and Staff and Staff and Staff and Staff and Staff and student
Student unions student union student unions student unions unions unions absent
involved fully consulted exist present
4 Infrastructure
(i) Classroom space 2.5m2 per one 2 m2 per one 1 m per 1 1 m2 per 4 1 m2 per over 5
student student student students students
(ii) Library space 2.5 m2 per one 2 m2 per one 1 m2 per 1 1 m per 4 1 m2 per over 5
student student student students students
(iii) Science 3 m2 per one 2.5 m2 per one 1 m2 per 1 1 m2 per 4 1 m2 per over 5
laboratories student student student students students
(iv) Computer 3 m2 per one 2.5 m2 per one 1 m2 per 1 1 m2 per 4 1 m2 per over 5
laboratory student student student students students
(v) Administrative 5 m2 per one 4 m2 per staff 3 m2 per one 2 m2 per 1 or less m2 per
staff offices staff staff staff staff
(Vi) Academic staff 5 m2 per one 4 m2 per staff 3 m2 per one 2 m2 per 1 or less m2 per
offices staff staff staff staff
(vii) Sports fields 1 field for 500 1 field for 1000 1 field for 1500 1 field for 1 field for 2500 or
registered students students 2000 more
students students
(viii) Facilities for dis- All buildings All classrooms Only on a few Planning to No plan at all
abled have
(ix) Tennis court, 1 field for each 1 of each field 1 of each for 1 of each for 1 of each field for
swimming pool, sport for 1000 for each 1500 2000 students 2500 stu- over 2500
volleyball, students students dents students
hockey and crick-
et

improved
(x) Conference hall One for 500 One for 750 One for 1000 One for 1500 One for over 2000
registered registered stu- registered stu- registered registered stu-
students dents dents students dents
(xi) Student union 20 m2 for 300 20 m2 for 500 20 m2 for 1000 20 m2 for 20 m2 for over
offices registered stu- students students 1200 stu- 1500 registered
dents dents
5 Academic staff
a) Staff/student
ratio:
General 1:15 1:20 1:25 1:40 1:50 or more
Arts/Social 1:15 1:25 1:30 1:50 1:60 or more
sciences
Medicine, Veter- 1:8 1:15 1:20 1:25 1:26 or more
inary, pharmacy
Dentist
Science based 1:10 1:15 1:20 1:25 1:26 or more
profession
Agriculture. For-
estry,
technology
Other professions 1:15 1:20 1:25 1:30 1:30 or more
- law, education,
statistics
b) Qualifications
(staff develop-
ment)
PhD Holders 60% of staff 50% of staff 15-50% of staff 10% of staff Less than 10% of
staff
Masters Holders 70% or more of 60% of staff 50% of staff 40% of staff Less than 30%
staff
Contact hours for 10hrs/week 15hrs/week 20hrs/week 30hrs/week 30hrs or more a
academic staff week
Percentage of 20% of staff 30% 35% 40% Over 50%
part-timers
6 Education facil-
ities
Student: Library 1:40 1:30 1:20 1:10 Less than 1:10
book ratio (rel-
evant and diver-
sity)
Computer: stu- 1 computer : 5 1:10 1:20 1:25 More than 1:30
dent ratio students
Access to inter- 1: 20 hrs. ac- 1:10hrs 1:5 hrs. 1:3hrs None at all
net; 1 student:hrs cess
7 Financial health
Percentage of 100% 80% 75% 70% Less than 50%
budget received
Percentage of NIL Less than 10% Less than 20% Less than Over 35%
deficit over ex- 25%
penditure
improved
Proportion of 50% 60% 65% 70% Over 75%
budget spent on
salaries
Percentage of 25-35% of bud- 40% 45% 50% Over 75%
income derived get
from fees
8 Facilities for the All facilities Most of the fa- Facilities are Council has Nothing is in
disabled available cilities in place being put in endorsed place or being
place their con- planned
struction
9 Gender sensitivity Comprehen- 75% of the Council has Council Nothing is being
sive affirma- needed rules approved a committee planned
tive action and regula- comprehen- has drafted
regulation to tions in place sive list of rules and
increase ac- them regulations
cess for wom-
en and other
disadvantaged
groups in place
10 Strategic plan Being imple- Has been ap- Is before sen- Being draft- None is being
mented proved by uni- ate or council ed worked on
versity council
11 Publications by Over 10 books 5-10 books a 1-5 books a One book a No publication
staff a year year year year at all
12 Research proj- Over 10 proj- 5-10 projects 1-5 projects One project No research go-
ects won by staff ects won won won won a year ing on
13 Percentage if 100% 80% 40-60% 40% 0-40%
inst. Graduates
employed in year
of graduation

Appendix VI: University adherence to capacity indicators
Quality assurance Specific indicator universities with ac- universities with un- Percetange with un-
and capacity indica- ceptable measures acceptable measures acceptbale measures
tor
1 Land 11 3 33%
2 Governance University council 13 1 7%
Staff union 13 1 7%
Student union 13 1 7%
3 Infrastructure Computer lab. space 4 10 71%
Laboratory space 5 9 64%
Library space 7 7 50%
Conference facilities 7 7 50%
Sports facilities 8 6 43%
Staff office space 9 5 36%
Classroom space 11 3 21%
4 Academic staff Percentage of part 5 9 64%
timers
PhD holding staff 6 8 57%
General staff to stu- 9 5 36%
dent ratio
Masters holding staff 13 1 7%
5 Education facilities Student: library book 4 10 71%
ratio
Computer: student 12 2 14%
ratio
Access to internet 13 1 7%
6 Financial health Income derived from 6 8 57%
fees
7 Publications by staff Books published by 7 7 50%
staff
8 Research projects 1 13 93%
won by staff
9 Tracer studies Tracer study Reports 1 13 93%
Average 8 6 43%
Source: Analysis of data collected from field inspection and university document review.

Audit House, Plot 2c Apollo
Kaggwa Road,
P.O. Box 7083 Kampala,
Tel: 041-7-336000,
Fax: +256-41-435674,
Email: info@oag.go.ug,
Website: www.oag.go.ug

Regulation of Universities NCHE PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Regulation of Universities NCHE PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Regulation of Universities NCHE PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

T H E R E P U B L I C O F U G A N D A

OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL

www.oag.go.ug | E-mail: info@oag.go.ug

A VALUE FOR MONEY AUDIT REPORT ON THE REGULATION OF

A REPORT BY THE AUDITOR GENERAL

A Value For Money Audit Report on the Regulation of Universities

A Report by the Auditor General

24th December 2018

The Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament

John F.S. Muwanga

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

Figure 1: Comparison of applications and assessments of programmes.......................................................13

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

DQAA Department of Quality Assurance and Accreditation

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

KEY AUDIT FINDINGS

a) Monitoring and institutional audits

b) Conducting of tracer studies by NCHE and universities

1 NCHE 2018 annual performance report

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

KEY AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS

OVERALL AUDIT CONCLUSION

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

1.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE AUDIT AREA

2 UBOS statistics on higher education census

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

1.3.2 Legal Framework

1.3.3 Vision and Mission

1.3.4 NCHE Objective

1.3.5 NCHE Activities

5 NCHE strategic plan 2012-2017.

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

1.3.7 NCHE Funding

1.4 AUDIT OBJECTIVES

The specific audit objectives were to:-

1.5 AUDIT SCOPE

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

The audit was conducted in accordance with the a) Document Review

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

SYSTEMS AND PROCESS DESCRIPTION

3.1 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF b) Principal Higher Education Officer -

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

3.2.1 Minimum standards for courses of b) Provisional Licensing

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

3.2.2 Accreditation of Programmes

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

3.2.4 Institutional Quality Audit

3.2.5 Compliance with payment of student fees

3.2.6 Research and information dissemination

The Regulation of Universities by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) |

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Figure 1: Comparison of applications and assessments of programmes

1000 Applications submitted

800 Programmes Assessed