By Spy Uganda
On 6th June 2023, one of the local dailies run an article quoting officials from the Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda (PSU) ‘without citing any clause of the law’ claiming that they had halted teaching and admission of students to the pharmacy program at Victoria University (VU).
The article further quoted PSU President Ms. Pamela Achil ”ordering” the mighty University to stop advertising the Bachelor of Pharmacy program until the accreditation process has been concluded.
In the same article, Ms. Achil went on and claimed that over a hundred Universities in Uganda, only three meet ‘her’ requirements and were therefore permitted to offer Bachelor of Pharmacy Programs and these are; Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Kampala International University, which is the only private institution.
As a result of the above, thousands of students in the entire country have been left in a deep shock, parents totally confused and ”affected” institutions sweating plasma to convince the public that ‘claims and orders’ of PSU are baseless and shouldn’t shock any person since they lack any legal stand.
PSU Has No Power Over Any University
According to the laws of Uganda, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is the only statutory body established under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001 (as amended), to regulate the provision of higher education, advise the Government on policy matters relating to higher education in Uganda and to equate qualifications of higher education from within and outside Uganda. This clearly trashes PSU buoyancy since the country can’t have two bodies playing the same role. To make it more clearer, PSU is only permitted to regulate the pharmacy profession but not academic institutions.
In fact, many Ugandans have since spit venom against PSU for attempting to promote a few Universities that they have interests in and this of course leaves many thinking that ”may be” there is a hidden force of ‘bribes’ pushing officials of PSU to promote those Universities and silence the mighty ones like Victoria University which has since captured the global stage as a technologically leading University.
”Of course, PSU has lost the trust of Ugandans. Yesterday I was reading an article and saw PSU President, Ms Achili proudly saying that she ‘ordered’ Victoria University Vice Chancellor, Prof Lawrence Muganga to immediately transfer the currently admitted pharmacy students and distribute them to the three Universities; Makerere, KIU and MUST. But one would wonder, if actually PSU is not corrupted why does it not guide Victoria University to fulfill the said requirements and be approved by NCHE than aiming to dismantle it by saying it distributes its students to the other Universities, that’s a monopoly and its very unfair and unacceptable in the Ugandan academic market,” said a furious academic pundit on condition of anonymity.
NCHE Is Aware Of Victoria University’s Pharmacy Program
Although PSU is trying to hang Victoria University on the cross, National Council of Higher Education, the most transparent and supportive body to academic institutions has clarified that actually, Victoria University is innocent since it has already submitted its pharmacy program for approval and is currently under review.
In a letter dated 5th June 2023, the Director of Quality Assurance and Accreditation at NCHE Ms. Maria Nakachwa Ssemakula informed PSU Secretary that Victoria University’s Bachelor of Pharmacy program had been submitted and reviewed and requested recommendations before the approval.
”NCHE has reviewed this program and looks forward to receiving your recommendations. You are further requested to nominate two experts to participate in the joint verification exercise intended to establish the adequacy of resources at the institution,” partially reads NCHE’s letter to PSU.
Meanwhile, our sources at NCHE have intimated to us that the Council is working tirelessly to conclude the consultations and approve Victoria University’s pharmacy program thus no need for students or any other concerned Ugandan to worry.
”As you may be aware, the Council doesn’t approve such academic programs in one day, when institutions like Victoria University submit their programs for approval, the Council consumes ample time consulting different bodies and associations like PSU before approval but the law doesn’t give those bodies the right to judge these Universities as incompetent or competent. So i think PSU should apologize to the said University for causing unnecessary panic to the students and am assuring you soon we are approving Victoria University’s pharmacy program because the University is among the very few in Uganda with state-of-the-art facilities and world-class lecturers,” said the source at NCHE.
‘Quality Is Part Of Victoria University’
It’s worth noting that this same University was in 2022 commended by NCHE for offering quality education to Ugandans and for innovating a state-of-the-art online learning system that is at an international level.
Equipped with dozens of courses that are at an international level, Victoria University has for years proved to be in ‘the driving seat’ academically committed to playing a leading role in bringing and developing high-quality education, student-centered learning opportunities based on standards of excellence that are unique, innovative and difficult to match.
The University has this year launched a couple of programs like the Career Readiness & Employability Program aiming to equip students with world-class hands-on skills and boost their experience before even graduating which will give them higher chances of being considered in the job market.
The University also launched a ‘Learn Germany-Work in Germany’ program that will connect its students with exciting job opportunities in Information Technology (IT) and Tourism & Hospitality sectors in Germany.
