The State Minister for Higher Education Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, has called upon different Universities in the country to help governement in addressing challenges in the country by producing graduants of good value and who can complete in the current job market.
He urged universities to emulate the advancements of curriculum in research department at Kampala International University (KIU).
He made the remarks during the 9th Uganda Vice Chancellors’ forum conference, which was held at KIU’s library under the theme; higher education.
He said universities in the country should working at solving different problems in the country other than producing fake graduants.
Muyingo noted that the core value of a University is to be a key actor in giving hand to the state by addressing some problems by producing graduates of value who are vibrant, intelligent, innovative and creative.
“unfortunately, problems have persisted because Universities these days serve the interests of those who pay the money and forget their core role in the the community hence producing fake graduants,” He said.
The conference gathered different heads of University and tertiary institutions from different parts of the country to discuss on issues concerning higher education in Uganda, and drafting of resolutions to foster the sustainability of research and quality education in the country.
Dr. Ssengozi Bagenda from African Rural University in Uganda said in this generation universities are no longer producing solution based graduates.
He blamed universities for contributing towards the existing challenges of unemployment.
“if we had many of these people, they would document different findings that are rooted in solving problems in our community,” he said.
He said it is high time for different Universities in the country to collaborate in different fields to fasten the amount of people who get PHD qualifications.
“Many of our Universities don’t have partnerships among ourselves. That is a major point of weakness we should work upon,” he noted.
The KIU Vice Chancellor, Dr. mouhamad Mpezamihigo noted there is need for the National Council for Higher Education and the Ministry of Education and Sports to draft accommodative regulations that permit partnerships.
“I feel that in order for us to beat specific target of the number of quality PHDs, we need an enabling environment that allows collaboration of Universities in producing them,” he said.