Francis Kagolo
12 November 2008
Kampala — PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has ordered public universities and other institutions of higher learning to charge Ugandan and foreign students the same amount of tuition fees.
The practice of charging foreign students higher fees must stop immediately, he was quoted in a circular.
Museveni said a president from the region had informed him about the practice.
The circular of November 6, marked "Most Urgent", was signed by education minister Namirembe Bitamazire.
It was addressed to the chairman of Makerere University Council and copied to Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi.
Museveni issued the directive on eighth last month, but Bitamazire said she kept it to allow time for higher education state minister Gabriel Opio draft guidelines for its implementation.
In the circular, Bitamazire asked Makerere University Council to put in place appropriate implementation strategies.
The directive comes hardly a week after Kenyan students at Makerere, the top public university, protested over "discriminative" tuition charges.
Makerere has 2,128 international students from Africa and elsewhere, about 6.4% of the student population.
"These (foreign) students incur a lot of costs in travelling, for accommodation and upkeep," argued Museveni. He ordered Bitamazire to direct university heads "to charge standard fees for all students."
Makerere charges foreign students higher fees than Ugandans, as is the practice across the world.
For instance, Ugandans pay sh20,000 application fee for graduate studies, but non-Ugandans pay $50 (about sh85,000).
On average, Ugandan undergraduate students pay between sh400,000 and sh900,000 tuition fees per semester while foreigners pay sh750,000 and sh1.6m.
For postgraduate courses like masters of civil engineering, quantitative economics and population studies, Ugandans pay sh1.4 to sh2.5 yet foreign students pay $3,000 (about sh5.2m) per annum.
However, Makerere vice-chancellor Prof. Livingstone Luboobi said universities would be severely affected if they cut down on foreign students' fees.
"Do you know why most Kenyans and other foreigners come to study here?" Luboobi asked. "We are the cheapest university in the region."
He cited the bachelor of medicine programme at Makerere where foreign students pay sh1.6m per semester yet Kenyan universities charge non-Kenyans about sh8m.
A source in Nairobi said a Kenyan student in a public university pays about Kshs80,000 (Uganda sh2m) per semester.
A foreign student on average pays 25% more than the Kenyan students, said the source.
Luboobi, who chairs the inter-university administrators' council in East Africa, said the councils will discuss the proposal.
Meanwhile, an association of Kenyan students at Makerere has called off its protest.
Last Thursday, the Police foiled, at the last minute, the students' attempt to burn the main building with petrol bombs.
The administration declared a curfew at the campus.
Addressing the press yesterday, association chief Phyllis Wangari said: "Kenyan students also want a peaceful environment. We should not be branded chaotic."
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