The National Council For Higher Education has dropped the ‘expired’ courses label after a meeting with executive heads of Universities yesterday.

They proposed that the programs be reviewed after every 3 cycles according to professor George Ladaah Openjuru, the chairman of Uganda Vice Chancellor’s forum. A suggestion was made that the courses instead be categorized as academic programs ‘pending review’.

“We have replaced the word ‘expired’ with a suitable word, but we were not conclusive on the time frame when the accredited programme should be re-assessed” – said an official who attended the meeting.

Professor Openjuru explained that the proposal was informed by the possibility that pioneer cohorts would have graduated and worked for at least 3 years, the second cohort would have two years work experience while the third cohort would be a year into testing their skills in the work spaces.

The month of May ended with national anxiety as many graduates questioned their academic future and credibility of their academic documents after a university of Bristol in the United Kingdom and others in Europe and the United States rejected graduate applicants on grounds of graduate courses being expired as per NCHE website.

Professor Tukamushabe added with emphasis that, “if a programme is accredited, it cannot expire, but it can be reviewed”.

The Higher Education Regulator is expected to provide details at a press conference today.

courtesy photo.