The National Planning Authority (NPA) has warned that overlapping mandates among higher education regulators and professional bodies could undermine the quality and development of Uganda’s higher education sector.
Mr Joseph Muvawala, the NPA Executive Director, said government needs to harmonise regulation and clearly define the roles of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), the TVET regulator and professional bodies to prevent duplication.
Speaking at the launch of the NCHE’s five-year Strategic Plan, Service Delivery Standards and Client Charter which will guide the council’s operations from 2025/26 to 2029/30 in Kampala on Thursday, Mr Muvawala said unclear jurisdiction could frustrate implementation of the new tools.
“We need harmonisation in regulation so as to clearly know who regulates what, where does higher education start and stop?” Dr Muvawala asked.
He said professional bodies should concentrate on regulating their respective professions rather than taking over functions that belong to universities or higher education regulators.
“We are seeing a lot of duplication and disharmony but there are professional bodies which are increasingly becoming involved in university affairs. You find some bodies taking roles of accrediting certain programs which isn’t stipulated among their mandates,” he said.
Dr Muvawala said government should address the overlaps as it reviews laws governing the sector, warning that continued duplication could affect universities’ ability to deliver quality education.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports should address the regulatory gaps as the country implements the new NCHE strategic instruments. The issue should be considered alongside other legal reforms aimed at strengthening accountability and regulation in higher education because the quality of universities ultimately determines the quality of human capital available to drive Uganda’s development,” he said.
He noted that the NPA will soon issue an advisory note to the minister, providing technical guidance on the matter and proposing measures to address duplication and regulatory confusion.
His concerns were echoed by Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the Makerere University Vice Chancellor, who said NCHE should be given stronger powers and sufficient independence to regulate universities without interference.
Prof Nawangwe called for a clear separation between the roles of NCHE and professional bodies.
“Confusion has to be removed. NCHE is the one to regulate universities. Professional bodies should regulate their professions, not universities,” he said.
He noted that professional bodies should only assess graduates when they are seeking entry into their respective professions, rather than directly supervising universities.
“If they need the university, they should come to NCHE and check whether those people are qualified and have been admitted by the body. It is at that point that they can oversee the quality of people entering their profession, not going to the universities, because we already have a regulator, and then they start threatening that they are going to close you,” Prof Nawangwe said.
However, NCHE says the regulatory confusion needs to be resolved in four key areas: determining which regulator has jurisdiction over particular institutions and programmes; clearly distinguishing TVET institutions from higher education institutions; defining which body should accredit specific programmes; and clarifying how the powers of NCHE and the TVET Council should be exercised.
Under the TVET Act No. 3 of 2025, universities are required to seek accreditation from the TVET Council for their diploma and certificate programmes and to register students for national examinations administered by the Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board (UVTAB) and related bodies.
Section 5(1) of the TVET Act mandates the TVET Council to accredit TVET programmes, while Section 4(d) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act gives NCHE similar accreditation responsibilities. The then Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, in December 2025 advised that there was no conflict or overlap between the two systems.
In Rwanda, the Government operated a TVET system similar to what Uganda has just introduced under the TVET Act 2025, for a number of years. However, it was found unworkable because it plunged the education sector into utter confusion. Consequently, they were forced to abandon it and adopt a system where TVET is split into Basic TVET (Certificate Levels 1-5) regulated by the TVET Board and TVET Higher Education (levels 6-9) regulated by the Rwanda Higher Education Council.
Speaking at the same event, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, the acting Minister of Education and chief guest, urged stakeholders to implement the new standards with integrity.
“We ask that the education system is firm and takes action on what is planned, with integrity and in a developmental way for Uganda as a whole. Let all stakeholders play their part, and let the public also demand these standards so that we can see Uganda developing,” Dr Muyingo said.
“Every staff member should understand the contribution they are expected to make, every client should know the standard of service they are entitled to receive, and management should be able to demonstrate, with evidence, the results achieved,” he added.
Prof Mary Okwakol, the NCHE Executive Director, said the Client Charter will provide a basis for monitoring quality while ensuring institutions respond promptly.
“The Client Charter will help us monitor our services, but also require our clients to respond quickly so that we can move their requests forward through the different organs of the university. The Strategic Plan needed to be accompanied by these instruments in order to fulfil the aspirations of our clients,” she said.