Makerere University to Limit Undergraduate Admissions

Makerere University usually admits 14,000 private undergraduate students each academic year. In the Academic year, Makerere reduced undergraduate admissions by 1,200, which also happened in the Academic yr 2022/2023, and the same is happening in the Academic yr 2023/2024.

The numbers to be slashed are of undergraduate students pursuing diplomas or first degrees in humanities while slots for science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses will remain untouched.

Through a phased manner, the university intends to reduce the total intake of incoming students by 5000 whilst increasing the intake for graduate programmes.

Makerere Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe argued that the move is in line with the institution’s strategy of transforming into a research-based university.

“There are programmes which we can’t reduce because the numbers are still low, especially STEM. But in the humanities, we are definitely going to start reducing,” the VC told Daily Monitor.

“The reduction will be done until we get the optimum number. If we reach the total enrolment of undergraduate students at 20,000, then we shall stop there and see [where] the number of graduates has reached.” 

Prof Nawangwe revealed that the university will use cut-off points as the elimination of the criteria by admitting the finest scorers.

The proposal has already met sharp criticism from students, alumni and the general public with many viewing it as biased and illogical

It is estimated that Makerere University has a population of around 36000 students. On average, 13,000 undergraduate students are admitted annually. 

Students enrolling on Humanities programmes are often higher than the STEM counterparts.

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