Kampala University Set to Graduate 3,514 Students at 23rd Ceremony, Celebrates 27 Years of Academic Excellence

By Gad Masereka

Kampala University will on Thursday, April 23, 2026, hold its 23rd Graduation Ceremony at the institution’s Main Campus in Ggaba, bringing together thousands of graduands from across the country and the wider East and Central African region in what is shaping up to be one of the most significant academic milestones in the university’s 27-year history.

A total of 3,514 students are set to receive their academic qualifications across various disciplines at the event, which will commence at 8:00 a.m. Of that number, 1,812 are female, representing 51.6 percent of the total cohort, while 1,702 are male, accounting for 48.4 percent. The figures reflect the university’s stated commitment to gender inclusion and point to a broader trend in Uganda’s higher education sector, where women are increasingly matching and outpacing male peers in degree attainment.

The ceremony will simultaneously serve as the 7th Graduation of the Kampala University School of Nursing and Health Sciences, based at the Mutundwe Campus. More than 242 nurses are among those receiving their scrolls, a figure that carries particular weight given Uganda’s ongoing push to expand its healthcare workforce in the years since the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

University Chancellor Hon. Prof. George Mondo Kagonyera will preside over the function, with Prof. Maggie Kigozi serving as Chief Guest. This year’s event carries the theme Empowering a New Generation: AI, Innovation, and Sustainable Development, a choice that places the university squarely in the conversation about how African institutions of higher learning are responding to the technological transformation reshaping every sector of the global economy.

The graduating class carries an additional distinction this year that has generated particular interest. Among those walking across the stage will be 12 alumni recently elected to Uganda’s 12th Parliament, individuals who pursued higher education at Kampala University and have since risen to national legislative office. Their presence adds a layer of civic symbolism to what is already a celebratory occasion, offering a living illustration of what the institution’s founders argued education could do for public life.

The student body itself reflects impressive geographic diversity. Graduands hail from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Eritrea, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and several other nations, having pursued their studies across the institution’s campuses in Ggaba, Mutundwe, Luweero, Jinja, and Masaka. That spread, university officials note, is evidence of Kampala University’s growing identity as a regional institution rather than a purely national one.

The entire ceremony will be broadcast live on BBS TV and Salam TV, enabling families, stakeholders, and well-wishers from across the globe to follow proceedings in real time. The university’s leadership also used the occasion to call on government to deepen its collaboration with universities, arguing that academic staff and students are generating innovations with genuine national development potential that remain unrealised due to limited structured support. As Kampala University marks nearly three decades of service to education, research, and community development, Thursday’s graduation stands as both an annual rite of passage and a statement of institutional endurance at a moment defined by rapid change.