Makerere University will soon close its Fort Portal campus later this August, six years after it started due to financial constraints.

The campus has an enrolment of about 180 students who are on short courses, degree and diploma courses. According to the vice chancellor, Prof John Ddumba-Ssentamu, the decision came after a resolution by the University Council, earlier this year, chaired by Dr Charles Wana-Etyem.

“The campus has been closed starting mid August this year, until the [University] council sits again to resolve the issue. However, what I want everyone to know is that all the students in that campus are still ours and we take full responsibility of them,” Ddumba Ssentamu said.

However, he left the door open for future engagements in Fort Portal, saying, “the challenges being faced will be resolved, but I’m
unsure when the campus will again open, given the fact that some students had already applied to join the [Fort Portal] campus”.

“We are also drawing a plan of how to redistribute those students and staff members to our other campuses; some to Jinja and
others to the main campus here in Kampala,” Ddumba-Ssentamu explained.

The acting director of the Fort Portal campus, Dr Ali Twaha, declined to comment on the matter, only referring us to Makerere. However,
some of the students there are concerned, including Vincent Ngonzi, a second-year student of on Bachelor of Commerce programme, who commutes from Fort Portal town to the campus every day.

“Will it be possible to for me to manage the situation there? I hear the standard of living is high in Kampala, and that’s why I had opted for coming from home to the campus. It was cheap and cost-effective,” said Ngonzi.

However, even as this happens, Makerere University main campus is already suffering a shortage of space. The main campus currently has an enrolment of about 40,000 students.