Why universities are vital in local economic development Wednesday May 05 2021 It is evident, university education in Uganda is no longer a status symbol or a preserve of a certain class of people like it probably was years ago when Makerere University was the only university in the country. Currently, there are over 50 universities, nine of them public and the rest private with some going steps further to establish study centres in different places in a bid to get closer to their stakeholders. However, apart from meeting education needs of the ever-increasing number of students, other opportunities that come along with the arrival of the ivory towers of academia to the rural communities seem to be going unharnessed.