National Council for Higher Education of Uganda: A Call for Trimming of Its Mandate and Increasing of Its Staffing and Funding

In 2001, the Government of Uganda established the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for two major goals. First, NCHE was to build and supervise a quality higher education (HE) sub-sector. Second, NCHE was to devise ways to generate new knowledge that would improve HE, through research and innovation. In trying to achieve these two major goals, NCHE has faced and continues to face challenges. In this chapter, I highlight some of those challenges, their causes and I suggest a way forward. I based it on a 22-year qualitative study in which I used the observation method of data collection whereby I kept my diary in the form of newspaper resources. I discuss three challenges, namely the struggle for legitimacy, defiance by institutions and legal challenges. I attribute those challenges to three causes, namely a bloated mandate, understaffing and underfunding. I suggest the way forward under three headings, namely trimming the mandate of NCHE, adequately staffing NCHE and adequately financing the NCHE.