The University of Buckingham in the UK last week announced that it had stopped accreditation of courses for a private university in Uganda over freedom of speech issues and the controversy surrounding the homosexuality bill in the East African country.
Three-quarters of the Ugandan university’s students have been affected.
“We have both become increasingly concerned about the proposed legislation in Uganda on homosexuality and in particular the constraints on freedom of speech in this area,” the University of Buckingham said in a statement.
Buckingham, a private research university, said that in the past few months it had been in discussion with Edulink Holdings, owners of the Kampala-based Victoria University, about continued authentication of some of its degrees. Edulink Holdings is an international investor in tertiary institutions.
Dr David Young, acting vice-chancellor of Victoria University, said ending the partnership was a joint decision by the University of Buckingham and the owners of Victoria.
Buckingham had been accrediting degrees that included bachelors in accounting and financial management, business and management, business and management with information systems, computing, communications and journalism, and MBA.
Young said the university would remain open to cater for non-Buckingham University undergraduate courses in nursing science and public health. He said 150 students out of the 200 enrolled by the university would be affected by the development.
“We will arrange for them to be transferred to Middlesex University Dubai, or University of Buckingham in the UK, or possibly Nairobi,” he told University World News. He added that students who do not wish to leave the country would be assisted to transfer to a Ugandan university.
Young said the situation could have been resolved if the contentious laws were addressed.
Uganda has a legislative proposal that would broaden the criminalisation of same-sex relations. Offenders could receive life imprisonment. The bill will go through a second parliamentary reading after 4 February, when the house opens.
Victoria University had been offering students in East Africa an opportunity to get a UK degree locally, at a cheaper cost in terms of fees, travel, accommodation and living costs than if they were to study abroad.
Launching Victoria University in September 2011, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni hailed it as a model of North-South business investment in education and health. He said that the university would provide access to quality higher education and spare parents the visa restrictions and costs involved in study abroad.
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