Kampala — MAKERERE University will admit 5,000 more private students this year, bringing the number to 17,820, up from last year's 13,000, sources said.

According to the sources in the Academic Registrar's office, the increment was necessitated by the introduction of new courses, the opening up of two campuses upcountry and the expansion of space at the main campus.

The senate, the institution's highest academic decision-making organ, sits next week to approve the new figures.

The increased in-take is expected to reduce the number of students who would have missed university places.

A total of 4,000 students are admitted in the four public universities each year on government sponsorship.

Makerere takes 3,000 of these but it expects more than 30,000 private applicants this year. Private universities have already started admitting students. The process ends in March.

Makerere's academic registrar, Alfred Masikye Namoah, said on Tuesday government-sponsored students will be admitted next month and the private ones in May.

One of the new courses is bachelor of agriculture and rural innovations, which is intended to contribute towards the modernisation of agriculture.

The bachelor of pharmacy, on the other hand, is expected to take 400 students, up from about 40 admitted last year, vice-chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba has said.

To make this possible, the university has already constructed a multi-storeyed building at the main campus.

It is managed by the College of Health Sciences, which was until recently known as the Makerere Medical School.

Speaking at the commissioning of the building in February, Baryamureeba said the School of Pharmacy would improve the ratio of pharmacists per person to 1:90,000 up from 1:100,000.

The facility is also expected to double the intake for medical courses in an attempt to address the alarming shortage of health workers in Uganda.

The college also acquired a spacious and well-equipped bio-safety laboratory valued at sh14b. At the opening of the building, Prof. Nelson Ssewankambo, the principal of the college, said the laboratory, which facilitates research and treatment of tuberculosis, can admit 50 students.

In addition, about 500 students will be admitted to the new campuses in Jinja and in Fort Portal. The campuses begin operations next academic year, which starts in August.

The university branch in Fort Portal will offer six bachelors degree courses, including business administration, commerce and science in quantitative surveying, land economics and business statistics.

The Jinja branch will specialise in computer science, information technology, tourism, development studies and law. Some 100 students will be admitted for each course, Baryamureeba said. He added that the satellite campuses will save poor parents the high cost of living in Kampala.

Makerere has been gradually reducing the number of private students. Untill 2008, the university was admitting about 12,000 private students following a university council directive to decongest the 88-year-old institution.

Out of the 96,741 candidates who sat for A'level last year, 60,463 are eligible to join university.