KIU Bursaries: Fair chance or to the highest bidder

Kampala International University has always been high in praise for creating an affordable university education for students through the KIU Bursary scheme policy.

The scheme caters for 40 to 50 percent of the full tuition allowing a student to pay only half of their full tuition, a scheme that has increased enrollment in higher learning institutions. 

 The steps taken to attain a bursary seem easy and straight forward. A fortnight process, as shown below.

And yet many have fallen victim to a group that is ready to sell to whoever will buy. A secret group working within the bursary office is alleged to sell bursaries to students who can afford them. I decided to go undercover and investigate with the hopes of attaining evidence of these allegations. 

After thorough research and investigation,  I connected to a source who bought herself a bursary. She intimated her story to me but chose to stay incognito to protect her identity and education. 

After listening to her story, I searched for the group and was lucky enough to get connected to a source that had previously worked as an Agent/broker that got customers for the sellers.

He explained the process of how bursaries were getting sold to students and connected me to two agents who were working with the sellers in the office.

How the bursaries are bought

 Under the pretense of needing a bursary for a friend, the source took me to the agent/ brokers that got customers for them. I was told to bring her documents and wait for the processing after which she would pay once successfully given a bursary.  It was minimum a week long process which would start after handing the documents over.

  A whatsapp screenshot of the conversation with the the active agent.

The second agent who worked outside the campus premises wasn’t so easy to let up. He was not quick to trust me but agreed to help although suspicious of my true intentions. He insisted on first verifying I wasn’t a spy before starting the process, as shown in the whatsapp exchange with him below.

With the evidence in light , I decided to approach the Director of bursaries about the allegations. Ms. Prossy Assimwe called the allegations and rumors baseless as the office and scheme does not entertain such habits because the process is clear in attaining a bursary and if anyone was found of such, a follow up investigation would be done as it would have become a criminal offense. She added that any one who had collaborated and was willing to pay for a bursary to anyone within was a criminal too and such acts could not be held against the department because then, he/she ceased to be a victim but a business partner who was benefitting from a mutual agreement.

 With both sides in view, it was clear that the system was flawed and needed an internal investigation and cleanup of the system.