UACE 2023: Over 80,000 Candidates Qualify for University Admission

A little over 80,000 candidates who sat their A-level exams last year have qualified for university admission, UACE 2023 results indicate.

Education minister Janet Museveni and Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) officials released UACE 2023 results on Thursday, 07 March 2024, at State House Nakasero in Kampala.

A Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) is a gateway to admission to universities, both public or government owned and private, as well as other tertiary institutions.

Over the years, universities have admitted candidates who scored two principal passes in their UACE.

According to Uneb executive director and secretary Dan Odongo, this criterion would make up to 80,643  or 73.7  per cent of candidates who sat their UACE papers in 2023 eligible for admission, according to UACE 2023 results. These 80,643 candidates scored the two principal passes.

Again, by this criterion, more candidates qualify for admission this year compared to the 2023 intake for universities.

“University admissions to degree courses have, up to date, been considering 2 Principal level passes as the minimum requirement. If this consideration is maintained, 80,643 (73.7%) qualify to be admitted, compared to 67,815 (70.3%) in 2022,” noted Odongo.

“This is consistent with the fact that there was better overall performance and a significant increase in entries for the examination in 2023.”

However, nearly 30,000 candidates who sat UACE 2023 will miss out on university admissions in 2024.

A total of 29,910 of the 110,553 candidates who sat UACE 2023 did not score the requisite two principal passes.

For other tertiary institutions, nearly 91 per cent or nine out of every 10, of the candidates would qualify since they have managed one principal and two subsidiary passes.

“In cases where one Principal and two Subsidiary passes levels are considered for admission to other tertiary institutions, 90.7%% of the candidates will qualify,” said Uneb’s Odongo.

“This is better when compared to 2022 with 89.3%.”

Last year, over 30,000 of the candidates who had sat UACE exams missed out on university admission. (See Details Here).

You can read our full briefing on UACE 2023 PERFORMANCE, showing Best, Worst Done Subjects, Performance by Gender & Number of Principal Passes HERE.

Meanwhile, the list of of Uganda’s best and worst universities is Here.

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