Uganda

by Nikki Cortoos for Re.ViCa

For entities in Uganda see Category:Uganda

Useful new (November 2013) country profile for Uganda by eLearning Africa at http://www.elearning-africa.com/eLA_Newsportal/uganda-country-profile/

Partners situated in Uganda

No partners are situated in Uganda.

Uganda in a nutshell

Source : http://www.cia.gov

The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompassed a portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.

The official languages are Swahili and English. Uganda has a total area of 236,040 km² and a population of 30,900,000 (2007 estimate) which gives a density of 119/km².

Source: Uganda Wikipedia's page on Uganda

Despite its abundant natural resources, Uganda became one of the poorest countries in the world during the turbulent regimes of Idi Amin (1971–1979) and Obote II (1980–1985). In 1987, the new government, led by President Yoweri Museveni, embarked on an economic recovery programme aimed at reducing poverty and restoring fiscal discipline and monetary stability by rehabilitating the economic, social and institutional infrastructure. The recovery programme encompassed civil service reform, revised investment and incentive structures, and made a rapid move to a market-determined exchange rate.

In 2002, Uganda had a population of 24.7 million, with a stable annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent. The GNP per capita was US$280, which is low compared to the average of US$470 for sub-Saharan Africa. The Ugandan economy is largely informal, with 88 per cent of the labour force working outside the formal sector.

Uganda is predominantly a rural country – only 13 per cent of the population live in urban areas. Life expectancy at birth is 42 years, which is low compared to the sub-Saharan average of 46. Adult literacy rates, at 78 per cent for men and 58 per cent for women, are high for the region. The infant mortality rate is 83 per 1 000 live births. Fifty per cent of the population have access to improved water sources, which is high for the region.

Source: Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) - Educational Technology Initiative: report on Uganda (PDF – 25 pages)

Uganda education policy

The Mission Statement of the Ministry of Education and Sports:

The Mission is “to provide for, support, guide, coordinate, regulate and promote quality education and sports to all persons in Uganda for national integration, individual and national development”. '

Vision Statement

The Vision for the Ministry of Education and Sports is “Quality Education and Sports For All”

Strategic Objectives

1. To ensure universal and equitable access to quality basic education for all children through:
   1. Early Childhood Care and Development for children up to 8 years.
   2. Universal Primary Education for children from 6 years to 12 years
   3. Education for the disadvantaged groups from 6 years to 18 years
2. To improve the Quality of Education in the following levels:-
   1. In Primary Education by ensuring pass rates in literacy and numeracy (at the appropriate class grade) levels through the National Assessment of Progress of Education (NAPE).
   2. In Post-primary Education by ensuring achievements attainment targets and pass rates in English, Mathematics, Science and Information Technology.
3. To ensure equal access by Gender, District and Special Needs at all levels of Education.
4. To build capacity of districts by helping Education Managers acquire and improve on their knowledge, skills and attitudes to be able to plan, monitor, account and perform managerial functions.

Source: Ministry of Education and Sports – Strategic Plan

Uganda education system

The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. The present system has existed since the early 1960s.

Source: Wikipedia’s entry on Education in Uganda

Related web sites:

• Nairobi Office Education Programme Nairobi Cluster Office

Higher education

Post-secondary education

Although 9,000-12,000 students per year leave school qualified to go on to higher education, only some 25% of them are able to find places at the limited number of institutions. Makerere University in Kampala (MAK) accepts some 95% of the total student population in Uganda's universities. The recognised Universities in Uganda include:

Related web page: Uganda Higher Education Profile, by the Boston College Center for International Higher Education (CIHE)

Universities in Uganda

Government Universities

• Makerere University (MAK)
• Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST)
• Kyambogo University (KU)
• Gulu University (GU)
• Busitema University (BUSIU)

Religious-Affiliated Universities

• Bugema University
• Busoga University
• Islamic University In Uganda (IUIU)
• Ndejje Christian University (NCU)
• Uganda Christian University (UCU)
• Uganda Martyrs University (UMU)

Private Secular Universities

• Kampala International University (KIU)
• Mutesa 1 Royal University(M1RU)
• Nkumba University (NU)

Source: Wikipedia’s entry on Education in Uganda

Polytechnics in Uganda

No information available for now.

Higher education reform

No information available for now.

Administration and finance

No information available for now.

Quality assurance

No information available for now.

Uganda's HEIs in the information society

Broadening equitable access to ICT requires a political commitment from the region’s leaders, and Uganda has the human and technical resources to exercise substantial leadership in this arena. Given the fact that there is already an ICT ‘big-push strategy’ in place in the country, and the various efforts that are being put in place by different government bodies, political commitment is a necessity in order to put ICT at the forefront of the government’s strategies for the future.

The very nature of ICT requires that the case for broader access be made at a regional level. The construction of the proposed Commission for East African Co-operation (EAC) high-capacity digital transmission link is one of the most appropriate actions for regional ICT co-operation.

For a nation to embrace a technology and make effective use of it, it is vital that substantial investment is put into understanding the technology and adapting it to the environment and circumstances that the technology is going to operate in. ICT projects, including pilot projects, must be undertaken to enhance the application of ICT for development work. Currently, most ICT projects are funded by government, quasi-government and private institutions (Republic of Uganda, 2002).

In this regard, Uganda has received a substantial amount of support from donor agencies in the past decade in the area of ICT for development. For example, Uganda was a focus country of both the ACACIA initiative of the Canadian International Development Research Centre (see IDRC, 1997) and the ICT programmes of the Netherlands International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD).

This has translated into myriad ICT projects being implemented in various sectors of Ugandan society, most notably in rural infrastructure, education, livelihoods and health. It would seem essential that Uganda learn as much as possible from these experiences, as lessons from implementing these projects could play an important role in ensuring that Uganda develops an appropriate ICT strategy and action plan. These lessons could also be useful for other African countries, particularly countries such as Kenya, which are embarking on the road towards defining ICT strategies and plans.

Currently, there are efforts within a number of government ministries and agencies to design and implement sectoral ICT policies, strategies and plans. Many of them are not in line with the national ICT policy framework, strategies and action plans. Also, the new paradigm shift of information technology, communications technology, information management, and broadcasting services converging at the technology and service-delivery fronts requires unified co-ordination at policy and regulatory levels. In the light of the above critical issues affecting the harnessing of ICTs in Uganda, the government has developed a coherent national e-government strategy framework geared towards the integration of ICTs into the national planning framework, elaborated in terms of the national vision, long-term, medium-term and annual plans, and putting ICTs under one political leadership for synergy, co-ordination and harmonisation of ICT initiatives in the country (Torach, Okello & Amuriat, n.d.).

Source: Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) - Educational Technology Initiative: report on Uganda (PDF – 25 pages)

Towards the information society

No information available for now.

Information society strategy

No information available for now.

Virtual initiatives in HE

No information available for now.

References

1. State House Of The Republic Of Uganda
2. Ministry of Education and Sports
3. Uganda Wikipedia's page on Uganda
4. Wikipedia’s entry on Education in Uganda
5. Ministry of Education and Sports – Strategic Plan
6. Nairobi Office Education Programme Nairobi Cluster Office
7. Uganda Higher Education Profile, by the Boston College Center for International Higher Education (CIHE)
8. Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) - Educational Technology Initiative: report on Uganda (PDF – 25 pages)

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For OER policies and projects in Uganda see Uganda/OER

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