UCU's Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program is now accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a global accounting body of accountants and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU).
The exemption followed a review of the UCU faculty of business curriculum and examination by the ACCA examination and accreditation team from UK. The accreditation also came with an exemption of six papers for graduates interested in becoming ACCA members, according to Patrick Mubangizi, the coordinator ACCA and CPA at the Mukono based institution.
"This means that a person who graduated with a Bachelor's Degree of Business Administration majoring in Accounting will only sit for eight papers out of 14," he said, adding, "For those intending to do CPA, the accreditation team from Uganda exempted us five papers."
Godfrey Ssempungu, the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Business and Administration said, "This stamp of approval is a testament to the rigor of the program and the readiness of our graduates to join the accounting profession."
Prossy Natukunda, a BBA student described the development as a blessing, "Those professional courses are expensive, but when you are exempted some, the burden of paying is reduced." With ACCA and CPA, you can work anywhere as a certified accountant."
Similarly, UCU's law degree holders are officially accredited to apply for the bar course in England and Wales. This implies that UCU law graduates now possess the required standards to apply for a bar course in the United Kingdom (UK) and become barristers in the UK, the equivalent to an advocate in Uganda.
Dr Anthony Kakooza, the Dean Faculty of Law at UCU said the global recognition for the law course widens the market for UCU law graduates who can no longer be constrained if LDC shuts the door on them, "They should know that there are other places to practice as long as it is a common world vetting."
Francis Gimara, the president Uganda Law Society said the recognition is a confirmation of the high standards of the UCU law degree.
"It means more opportunities for the graduates to be part of the British barristers. We look forward to working with more lawyers that can practice both in Uganda and in the UK," Gimara said.