The Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda (PSU) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to Kampala International University (KIU), demanding data on student admissions and academic staffing for its Bachelor of Pharmacy programme. The move follows growing concern that massive over-enrolment is threatening the quality of training.
In a letter dated 4 November 2026, PSU Secretary Dr Stephen Lutoti warned KIU Vice Chancellor Prof. Muhammad Ngoma that the professional body needs to verify if the institution has the capacity and personnel to handle its student load.
The registry demand focuses on potential strain across core disciplines, practical lab sessions, and clinical hospital placements. KIU must submit documentation proving:
The official student intake approved by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) for the 2026/2027 academic year.
The exact number of registered and reporting students across all five years of study.
A full list of academic staff showing their specialisations, qualifications, professional registration status, and employment terms.
PSU will cross-check KIU’s submissions against independent data gathered under the PSU Byelaws on Recognition of Pharmacy Qualifications.
Despite the audit, the regulator commended KIU for resolving a previous dispute regarding its administration.
PSU praised the appointment of Dr Samba Silvano Twinomujuni—a registered pharmacist with over five years of university teaching experience—as the new Dean of the School of Pharmacy at KIU’s Western Campus in Ishaka. The university’s quick response to the compliance order was cited by the society as a positive commitment to professional standards.
The scrutiny facing KIU is part of a sweeping regulatory cleanup of pharmaceutical education across Uganda:
PSU recently de-registered MUST’s Bachelor of Pharmacy programme after the university appointed a non-pharmacist to head the department amid staffing shortages.
The regulator also ordered the Victoria University campus to halt all pharmacy teaching and clinical placements after it allegedly admitted 364 students, heavily violating its strict NCHE cap of 50 students.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda (PSU) is the statutory professional body that governs the pharmacy profession in the country. Established by the Pharmacy and Drugs Act (Cap 280), its primary mandate is to register pharmacists, enforce professional ethics, and ensure that any institution training future pharmacists meets strict national and international standards.
The escalating “battle” between the PSU and Ugandan universities (like KIU, MUST, and Victoria University) boils down to a fierce defense of public health safety versus the commercialization of higher education.
PMU argues that Pharmacy is not a generic humanities degree; it is a high-risk, clinical medical discipline. If a university over-enrols students, it results in crowded lecture halls and diluted training. When these under-trained graduates enter the workforce, they are responsible for compounding medicines, calculating dosages, and managing toxic pharmaceuticals. A single mistake due to poor training can be fatal to patients.
Pharmacy training relies heavily on hands-on laboratory experiments and clinical hospital placements.
Uganda’s top teaching hospitals and university laboratories have fixed capacities.
When a university like Victoria University allegedly admits 364 students instead of its approved limit of 50, there are physically not enough lab benches, microscopes, chemicals, or hospital wards for these students to learn properly. PSU steps in to prevent students from graduating with only “theoretical” knowledge of medicine.
To maintain international training standards, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and PSU enforce strict lecturer-to-student ratios. Because qualified pharmacy professors and PhD holders are scarce in East Africa, universities frequently struggle to recruit enough staff. By admitting massive numbers of students without hiring more qualified professors, universities heavily compromise the quality of mentorship and grading.
