East African universities to harmonise tuition fees

Universities and institutions of higher learning in East Africa are set to harmonise tuition fees for students within the East Africa Community states. Stakeholders from 96 universities registered under the Inter- University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) will hold consultative talks to forge a way forward for implementation of the policy that the Council has been campaigning for for the last two years. The decision was reached during the 4th annual IUCEA meeting held in Entebbe recently. According to the IUCEA Executive Secretary, Prof Mayunga Nkunya, the council has received resistance from EAC member states who view the policy as a way of forcing governments to educate members of other states at a cheap price. “Most governments subsidise fees of their local students so as to try to educate all people in their state and create labour within. Because of this, most of them have not received this policy well since it will be creating labour for another state,” Prof Nkunya said, adding that they have, however, “not given up”. Uganda’s Minister of Education Jessica Alupo said the government had changed its position and is now in support of the proposed policy. The IUCEA was established in 1970 and remained operational even after the EAC collapsed. It is responsible for human resource development and research.