The Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board (UVTAB) has completed the development of 34 new diploma curricula that place greater emphasis on practical competence than classroom theory, marking a major milestone in Uganda’s transition to competency-based technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
The exercise is part of UVTAB’s mandate under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act, 2025, which established the Board by merging the former Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) and the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT).
Neoline Kyomugisha, UVTAB’s Manager for Curriculum Development and Management, says that the curricula have undergone the required technical processes, including validation by Sector Skills Expert Committees, and now await formal approval by the TVET Council.
“UVTAB has successfully prepared 34 diploma programme curricula. They comprise 14 business programmes, 19 technology programmes and one home science programme. 31 are already ready for approval, and I can say they are likely to be approved soon,” she said.
Previously, diploma programmes were designed independently by individual institutions and accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). However, the TVET Act, 2025 introduced a unified national framework that places all technical and vocational programmes under government oversight. Under Sections 79 and 95 of the Act, curriculum development is now the responsibility of UVTAB, working closely with Sector Skills Expert Committees composed of industry experts, practitioners, trainers and other stakeholders.
The arrangement is intended to ensure that training remains responsive to labour market demands and aligned with international standards. Once approved by the TVET Council, every institution offering a particular diploma programme, whether a technical college or a university, will be required to teach the same curriculum and have learners assessed through a common national examination system.
Peter Oyoo Alip, Principal Curriculum Specialist at UVTAB, said the new programmes deliberately shift the balance of learning towards hands-on competence.
“Under the new curriculum, trainees will spend 70 per cent of their time acquiring practical competences as they are applied in industry, while theory has been reduced to 30 per cent,” he said.
The reforms also introduce a new curriculum structure and terminology. Traditional course units will now be known as competence areas, each broken down into competence units that clearly define the skills and outcomes learners are expected to demonstrate.
Curriculum developers say every module has been designed to equip trainees with competencies that directly translate into workplace performance rather than theoretical knowledge alone. Kyomugisha cited hotel management as an example, explaining that learners will spend most of their training mastering actual hotel operations while also acquiring essential cross-cutting skills such as ethics, values, communication and entrepreneurship to enhance employability and self-employment.
Andrew Otim, a member of the Tourism Sector Skills Expert Committee, said the reforms have the potential to fundamentally transform TVET by addressing long-standing concerns from employers.
“In industry we want skills, not theories, and this curriculum addresses that gap. Employers have often preferred people trained through apprenticeships rather than institutions because institutional training has lacked sufficient practical and industry-oriented content,” he said.
Although it remains unclear whether some diploma programmes were merged or phased out during the review process, several have been renamed to better reflect their content and industry relevance. New programmes have also been introduced, including the National Technical Diploma in Welding.
Ronald Ssezibwa, the Chief Executive Officer of SEB Institute of Welding and Technology, welcomed the development after reviewing the draft curriculum. “I am an expert in the field, and I have seen the curriculum. I am impressed. I am confident that it is the best I have seen in the region. The challenge, perhaps, will be implementation,” he said.
Ssezibwa added that the National Technical Diploma in Welding fills a longstanding gap by creating a clear progression pathway within the profession.
“Other countries already have this pathway, but Uganda has lagged. We need sector-specific technicians and specialists. This programme provides a stepping stone towards producing welding engineers in Uganda. Previously, training largely ended at Level Three, the certificate level,” he said.
The new diploma curricula are expected to receive approval before the start of the next academic semester, paving the way for the first cohort of students in technical colleges and universities offering TVET diploma programmes to study under the new competency-based system.
With the diploma curricula completed, UVTAB is expected to turn its attention to developing corresponding certificate and lower-level qualifications. While draft certificate curricula have already been prepared, they are still undergoing validation and approval.
The reforms are part of the broader implementation of the TVET Act, 2025, which seeks to establish an employer-led, competency-based training system that produces graduates with industry-relevant skills aligned to Uganda’s labour market needs and the priorities of the National Development Plan-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
