MUNYONYO, KAMPALA — Victoria University Vice Chancellor Dr Lawrence Muganga has announced that the institution will begin offering PhD programmes “very soon,” marking a major step in its evolution from a skills-focused teaching university into a centre capable of generating original research.
The announcement came during the university’s colourful 10th graduation ceremony, held on 19–20 October 2026 at the Speke Resort Convention Centre in Munyonyo. The two-day event, themed “The Future Is Here,” celebrated roughly 2,600 graduands drawn from the faculties of Science and Technology, Health Sciences, Business and Management, and Humanities and Social Sciences.
Addressing the packed hall, Muganga framed the move toward doctoral studies as the logical next phase of the university’s rapid growth. Under his leadership, student enrolment has expanded exponentially from fewer than 200 in 2020 to approximately 16,000 today. He noted that an impressive 89 percent of this year’s graduates were already employed or in placements, and that more than half had pursued science-related programmes — figures he directly linked to the institution’s work-integrated learning model and mandatory free Artificial Intelligence (AI) training across all courses.
“We have built a university that prepares people to deliver from day one,” Muganga told the congregation. “The next frontier is to produce scholars who can generate new knowledge for Uganda and the region. PhD programmes will allow us to do that while remaining true to our focus on practical, relevant research.”
The institution received its full Charter from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in 2022, legally empowering it to award doctoral degrees. Until now, Victoria University has concentrated heavily on undergraduate, diploma, and master’s programmes. Introducing PhDs will place it among a selective group of Ugandan institutions actively contributing to the country’s doctoral output, addressing a long-standing constraint on local research capacity and higher-education quality.
The landmark ceremony also featured significant announcements regarding physical infrastructure expansion. Dr Muganga revealed plans to kickstart construction of a brand-new campus in Naguru come January 2027, which will feature a state-of-the-art teaching hospital to support the university’s fast-expanding health sciences programmes.
Capitalising on the public platform, the Vice Chancellor renewed his passionate call for a national “One Laptop Per Child” policy, warning that without widespread digital access and technological empowerment, Uganda risks falling behind in the rapidly accelerating AI-driven global economy.
The graduation was attended by university leadership, representatives of the Ruparelia Group (the university’s proprietors), parents, guardians, and key industry partners. It continued Victoria University’s signature tradition of hosting grand, high-profile graduation ceremonies at Speke Resort Munyonyo, highlighting both its commercial success and its rising ambition to transform Uganda’s higher-education landscape.
If the upcoming PhD rollout proceeds as outlined, the doctoral offerings are expected to concentrate on fields aligned with the university’s core strengths — technology, health sciences, business management, and educational innovation — with a sharp emphasis on applied research designed to directly solve national development challenges.
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