Deputy Speaker TayebwaBy Prisca WanyenyaParliament has asked the Ministry of Education and Sports to furnish the House with a list of all accredited courses taught in universities in Uganda, after it emerged that the Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Technology at Makerere University has not been listed as accredited on the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) database since April 2015.The directive was issued by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa during the plenary sitting on October 28, 2026, following a concern raised by Eunice Apio (Oyam South) that a student lost a fully paid Masters scholarship at Warsaw University of Technology in Poland after the course was found to be listed as expired on the NCHE website.“You need to go to the National Council for Higher Education, submit a list of all accredited courses for all universities in the country. You lay it on the table here so that members can all refer to it, including those which were accredited, but then the institutions should renew their accreditation because you are accredited for a certain period,” Tayebwa said.“So once that period has ended, how do we determine? That’s how the issue of expired had come up. Maybe withdraw accreditation, maybe acquired, whatever, I don’t know, but please get us that information, so that the education committee and colleagues can access it,” he added.In her submission, Apio wondered why a May 2023 parliamentary resolution requiring NCHE to clean up its database and remove the word ‘expired’ from valid courses had not been honoured, leading to the rejection of the Ugandan graduate in October 2026. The sole reason for rejection was that the undergraduate degree in Food Science and Technology at Makerere had not been listed as accredited since April 2015.“The letter that came from Poland is very painful to read, because it declares the degree null and void anywhere globally, and the young graduate now has to start thinking afresh on how to pick up from there. And unfortunately, NCHE knows that these degrees are valid, because it went ahead last week to try and save the situation. They even wrote a manual paper letter to explain the anomaly, but European and international agencies don’t run on manual paper letters, they run on verified live digital systems,” Apio said.She asked Parliament to order the Minister to provide a status report on why NCHE had failed to implement the House directives since May 2023, and whether a diplomatic note should be issued to rectify the matter.“My prayer is that so many students, so many graduates from Uganda have been affected. I pray that you consider, in your wisdom and the wisdom of this House, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue a sovereign diplomatic note to the International Education Board to protect Ugandan scholars, quoting the database backlog,” she said.However, State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang told Parliament that Makerere University was accredited by NCHE in 2010 to offer a degree in Food Science and Technology and has since been graduating students in the course.“What is at hand here is that NCHE with Makerere University did not upload this course online for purposes of other students across the globe, for other educational institutions across the globe to check on it. But also, when I brought the matter to the University, the Minister of Education and Sports is coordinating to ensure this anomaly is addressed,” Ogwang said.The Minister also questioned why the matter was brought to the floor of Parliament yet it had been handled diplomatically between the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, and cautioned legislators against bringing disrepute to Uganda’s education sector.“I want to ask members here; we have a responsibility to protect our education system. Coming here to talk about the standards of education system is not one which will help us and our achievers who have papers from these institutions across the globe. It is very important that we learn to protect our education system. I acknowledge the error which was made, but I am here now to make it categorically clear that this course has been in operation at Makerere University since 2010,” Ogwang said.Deputy Speaker Tayebwa however defended Apio’s right to raise the matter, describing her concern as extremely critical, and questioned how a duly accredited course could be listed as expired on the regulator’s website.“If the courses were accredited, updating the website these days takes around, with even Artificial Intelligence, one minute. As I talk now, you can bring your updated website and you move using even your mobile phone. So now the students are suffering,” Tayebwa said.The post Parliament Demands List of Accredited University Courses After Makerere Graduate Loses Poland Scholarship appeared first on Business Focus.