The only way private universities can expand is through collaboration and sharing their resources, Deputy Speaker, Hon. Thomas Tayebwa has said.
“Private universities need to leverage on collaboration because the public universities already have their platforms that are based on collaboration,” said Tayebwa.
He made the remarks while officiating at the 2nd graduation ceremony of the University of Saint Joseph in Mbarara City on Saturday, 18 February 2023.
Tayebwa urged the new university to mobilize other like-minded universities to establish platforms that enable access and sharing of information.
He cited an example of the Academic Management Information System (ACMIS), started by Makerere University, in partnership with Kyambogo University.
ACMIS integrates data of students in public universities including tuition fee payment records, examination marks, timetables, and monitoring of teaching and class attendance, among others.
“This system is extremely expensive for a university like this one. But if you take advantage of ACMIS which the government has partnered with public universities, then you will find each student is paying Shs30,000 yearly to be part of that system,” said Tayebwa.
Tayebwa added that in order to tap into government resources, it is important for private universities to be organised.
“The moment you are organized, you can never be ignored by the government. The moment you go into self-aggrandizement, the government will not come in because we always have competing priorities,” he said.
He further advised private universities to adopt a system that facilitates the use of external examiners, saying that it promotes the credibility of graduates.
“If you are a university and you do not have external examiners, the credibility of all the marks of your graduates becomes questionable,” he said.
He also encouraged the graduates to promote good moral values in the job market, saying that the majority of youths are only rushing to succeed, without values.
“Success without values is no success. Being successful is not enough, you should strive to be of value, work hard and be up to speed with the world. This world is not merciful,” said Tayebwa.
The University’s Chancellor, the Archbishop of Mbarara, and His Grace, Lambert Bainomugisha, called on the institution’s management to focus on skilling learners to create jobs.
“Efforts should aim at establishing vocational courses and encouraging the students to appreciate work ethics, honesty, and time management,” he said.
Bainomugisha also appealed for increased government support to enable the university to continue providing low-cost education to youths.
The graduation ceremony saw 184 learners awarded diplomas and conferred Bachelor’s degrees in various disciplines including Business Administration, Computer Science, Secretarial Studies, and Education.
