Makerere wants students to spend 40% time in the field before graduating

Officials at Makerere University have advised the government to draft a new curriculum for university students to spend only 60% of their time at the university and 40% of the time in the field.

This follows a report questioning the quality of graduates joining the labour market, who employers say lack the required skills to work.

Employers, have for long blamed universities of sending half baked graduates to thr labour market, hence making them incur a lot of money and time in skilling them.

Dr. Ronald Arinaitwe Bisaso, an Associate Professor at the Makerere College of Education told NBS TV that the latest research findings show that the only way this gap can be closed is by implementing the National Development Plan 3, which calls for balancing time spent at university and labour market.

“We have seen this as a perennial problem, where employers blame teachers or the curriculum, saying that it is not offering enough,” Dr Arinaitwe said.

The National Development Plan 3 calls for review of the current curriculum to reduce the time spent in university theory practice to at least 60 percent.

He said that besides the curriculum, students are also partially to blame for failing to identify their niche and strengths, which makes many of them unemployable.

This research, was part of the 36 research projects that have been conducted by the College of Education and External Studies, all aimed at improving Uganda’s education system.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe said with more government support, the university can even do more research that will improve the quality of education and graduates in the country.