The Committee on Education and Sports has recommended a review of graduates whose degrees from Ernest Cook University were not recognised by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
The recommendation follows an inquiry into a petition presented to Parliament by Dr Henry Garvin Mukalazi and other affected graduates on 08 June 2026.
The petitioners claimed that the university admitted students to bachelor’s degree programmes in Diagnostic Ultrasound and Medical Imaging before the programmes received the required accreditation.
Presenting the committee report during plenary on Thursday, 01 October 2026, the Committee Chairperson, Hon. Emmanuel Ongiertho said evidence showed that at least one student was admitted to the Bachelor of Diagnostic Ultrasound programme in 2011, before the programme accreditation in December 2013.
The committee faulted NCHE for failing to exercise adequate oversight of the university.
“NCHE had been engaging with Ernest Cook University and even recommended that the university affiliates with Gulu University. This implies that NCHE was aware that the university was enrolling students in the course,” Ongiertho said.
The report noted that NCHE issued harmonised minimum admission requirements for health-related degree programmes in 2017, nearly 10 years after the regulations came into force.
The committee tasked the Ministry to establish a joint review committee comprising NCHE, Ernest Cook University and the Allied Health Professionals Council.
“The joint review committee should determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether any affected graduate may be subjected to bridging, remedial training, assessment or any other lawful measure necessary to meet the applicable academic and professional standards,” said Ongiertho.
The proposed committee would examine each graduate’s admission qualifications, academic record and training. It would then determine whether the qualification could be recognised or whether additional training was necessary.
The Minister of State for Education and Sports (Sports), Hon. Peter Ogwang, said Mukalazi had previously challenged NCHE in court, but the court ruled in NCHE’s favour, but that the ministry had since intervened to help resolve the dispute.
“The court ruled in favor of NCHE, Mukalazi engaged the ministry which wrote to the Council to carry out an investigation regarding compliance with minimum admission requirement and programme accreditation requirement. The council has since established a team to conduct investigation, so despite us winning the case in court we have met with Mukalazi and we continue to help,” said Ogwang.
Speaker Jacob Marksons Oboth, guided that Parliament could not pass a resolution that varied an existing court judgment. He, however directed Ogwang to expedite the ongoing review and report back on the actions taken.
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