14 years later, Muteesa I Royal University finally gets Charter Status

President Yoweri Museveni has approved and granted charter status to Buganda Kingdom’s Muteesa I Royal University ending a 14-year wait for the Masaka-based varsity to secure top-level accreditation from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

The President in a notice dated March 11, 2024, confirmed approving the Charter to Muteesa University adding it to the list of over 20 private universities with charter status.

“A Charter to provide for the establishment, control, governance and administration of Muteesa I Royal University and for related purposes in accordance with the University and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, 2001, as amended,” Mr Museveni said, before signing on the document to ascertain the University’s Charter Status.

The Katikkiro of Buganda, Owek Charles Peter Mayiga in a post via X last week expressed gratitude upon receiving the news of Muteesa I Royal’s Charter Status and thanked the President, the University Management and the NCHE for doing all it could to reach such a milestone.

“The news of the grant of a Charter to @MuteesaIRoyal was received with joy. I extend my appreciation to the University Council; Management; and the National Council for Higher Education, for undertaking the required processes leading to the award. I thank the President for effecting the legal requirement by appending his signature when the Charter was presented before him,” Mayiga posted.

According to the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, a charter is “granted by the President as evidence that the university meets the requirements and standards of academic excellence set by the NCHE.”

Muteesa I Royal University was established in 2007 by Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II to support the education sector through high institutions of learning within the Buganda region and Uganda at large.

The University has two branches, with the main campus in Kirumba Masaka and the Kampala Campus in Kakeeka, Rubaga Division, a Kampala suburb.

The acquisition of the Charter means Muteesa I Royal University is now fully recognised as a Degree Awarding Institution by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).