Public Universities Postpone Opening Dates

Public universities have postponed their opening dates pending negotiations with the government in regard to non-teaching staff strike that has entered week two.

Kyambogo University which was supposed to open yesterday, has postponed to 15th of this month awaiting the response from the government.

“We were supposed to open on Saturday, last week but we have now postponed to 15th August. We hope by that time, the government would have solved the non-teaching staff issues such that the semester can resume normally,” confirmed Kyambogo University Public Relations Officer, Lawrence Madette.

At Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), students who were supposed to report, beginning tomorrow have been told to remain home until further notice.

On the advice of the RDC Mbarara district Nickson Kabuye, they have also resolved to extend the opening dates until further notice.

The Academic registrar observed that they cannot allow students to report when the offices are closed.

He said this will render students idle and consequently it may result into another strike by students.

This followed a closed door meeting on Saturday where Staff at MUST stuck to their guns.

At Busitema University, the semester which was supposed to open on 8th, has also been postponed to17th, pending negotiations with government.

Gulu University, Makerere University and Makerere University Business School (MUBS), also their opening dates hang in balance as students are supposed to report on 15th of this month.

However, Prof. Christine Dranzoa, the vice chancellor of Muni University says there is nothing that is going to disorganize her university.

“Muni University is still young, and we would not want anything to disorganize us. Our semester will begin as scheduled despite the strike,” she said.

Uganda has got six public universities namely; Busitema University, Gulu University, Kyambogo University, Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Muni University, with over 4000 employees as non-teaching staff.