Who governs Forward University?

A University Council is the governing body, with academic authority held by an Academic Senate. Both charters are published; seats are open and are being filled ahead of the founding intake. Independent quality assurance reports to Council rather than to the executive.

Why are no individuals named yet?

Because most appointments are not signed. Forward publishes the structure, mandate and appointment rule now, and publishes each person's name and background on the day their appointment is confirmed.

Who decides marks and awards?

The Academic Senate holds award authority, and every mark is issued by a trained human evaluator against a published rubric. Software, including Mwalimu, never issues a mark. The AI Oversight Board enforces that rule.

How can a student challenge a decision?

Through the Academic Appeals and Conduct Board, which convenes within ten working days of an admissible appeal. Nobody who taught, marked or mentored the student may sit on their case.

Leadership and governance

Who decides, who audits, and who answers.

Forward publishes its governance structure before it publishes personalities. Every body below appears with its mandate, its composition and its real status. Names publish on the day an appointment is signed.

Governing bodies

Six bodies, with separated powers.

Academic authority is not the same as executive power, and the people auditing the promises do not report to the people making them.

Charter published, seats open

University Council

The governing body. Holds the institution to its published promises, approves the strategy, the budget and the fee schedule, and appoints the Vice Chancellor.

Composition

• An independent chair, from outside the founding team
• Two members with East African higher-education regulatory experience
• Two employer members drawn from cooperative-education partners
• One finance and audit member
• One student member, once the founding cohort is enrolled
• The Vice Chancellor, ex officio

Meets: Quarterly, with an annual public report
Publishes: Minutes summary, register of interests, annual report
Cannot delegate: Fee approval, the refusal list, and any change to a published student promise

Charter published, seats open

Academic Senate

Academic authority. Owns curriculum approval, assessment regulations, progression and award decisions, and the separation between teaching and marking.

Composition

• Chaired by the senior academic officer
• Every Dean of School
• Every Programme Chair, or a Chair elected per School
• The external examiner and quality assurance lead
• Two student academic representatives, once enrolled

Meets: Monthly, plus award boards each assessment window
Publishes: Assessment regulations, rubric library, award board outcomes in aggregate
Cannot delegate: Award of any credential, and approval of any new competence unit

Charter published, seats open

Quality Assurance and Standards Committee

Independent of delivery. Samples marking, audits the coach and judge separation, checks turnaround promises against the data, and reports breaches to Council directly.

Composition

• Chaired by the external examiner and quality assurance lead
• Two external academics with no teaching load at Forward
• One employer assessor from cooperative education
• The registrar, in attendance only

Meets: Every assessment window
Publishes: Sampling results, promise-breach log, corrective actions
Cannot delegate: Its own sampling plan, and the decision to escalate a breach

Constituted

AI Oversight Board

Named human supervision for Mwalimu and LEO. Approves what the AI may do, reviews grounding sources, audits transcripts for harmful or invented answers, and signs off that no mark is issued by software.

Composition

• The AI Learning Systems Lead
• The senior academic officer
• The data protection officer
• One external member with AI safety or data governance experience
• One student member, once enrolled

Meets: Monthly, with a published incident register
Publishes: Model and behaviour changes, incident register, grounding sources
Cannot delegate: Any expansion of what AI is permitted to decide

Forms with the accreditation wave

Academic Appeals and Conduct Board

Hears academic appeals, mitigating-circumstance claims and conduct cases. Nobody who taught, marked or mentored the student may sit on their case.

Composition

• An independent chair, not a member of Senate
• Two trained panel members from outside the student's School
• One student representative for conduct cases

Meets: Convened within ten working days of an admissible appeal
Publishes: Appeal grounds, timelines, and anonymised outcome statistics
Cannot delegate: The outcome of any individual appeal

Forms with the accreditation wave

Student Representative Council

Elected student voice with reserved seats on Council, Senate and the AI Oversight Board. Holds a standing right to table an item at Council.

Composition

• Elected representatives per School
• One representative for international students
• One representative for Forward College learners
• One representative for Academy learners

Meets: Termly, with elections each academic year
Publishes: Motions tabled and institutional responses
Cannot delegate: Its own agenda

Offices

Each promise has an office attached to it.

These are the posts that answer for the institution's commitments, with the line of accountability and the current status of each.

Office	Accountable for	Reports to	Status
Vice Chancellor	The institution as a whole: strategy, regulatory standing, and every published promise.	University Council	Recruitment open
Senior Academic Officer (Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic)	Curriculum quality, assessment integrity, the coach and judge separation, and Senate business.	Vice Chancellor	Recruitment open
Registrar	Admissions decisions, student records, transcripts, credential issue and appeals administration.	Vice Chancellor	Filled by the founding team
Director of Cooperative Education	Placement capacity, employer agreements, and the twelve-month paid placement promise.	Vice Chancellor	Recruitment open
External Examiner and Quality Assurance Lead	Independent sampling, promise auditing, and reporting breaches to Council without filtering.	University Council	Recruitment open
AI Learning Systems Lead	Mwalimu and LEO behaviour, grounding, and the rule that software never issues a mark.	Senior Academic Officer	Filled by the founding team
Data Protection Officer	Data subject rights, retention, AI data use, and breach response under the Uganda DPPA 2019.	Vice Chancellor	Filled by the founding team
Deans of School	Staffing plans, Programme Chairs, and delivery quality within each School.	Senior Academic Officer	Opens with the first cohort

Appointment and independence

Five rules we will be held to.

Names publish on appointment, not before

Forward will not decorate this page with advisers who have not accepted a role. Every seat above appears with its real status, and the person's name and background appear here on the day the appointment is signed.

Independence is structural, not stated

The chair of Council, the quality assurance lead and the appeals chair sit outside the delivery chain and outside the founding team. The quality lead reports to Council, not to the executive whose promises are being audited.

Conflicts are declared and published

Every Council, Senate and committee member files a register of interests on appointment and updates it annually. The register is published. A member with a material interest in an item withdraws from that item.

Students hold real seats

Student seats on Council, Senate and the AI Oversight Board are voting seats with papers circulated in advance, not observer chairs added after decisions are taken.

Employers sit in governance, not just in marketing

Cooperative-education employers hold seats on Council and on the quality committee, because they are the people who see whether a Forward graduate can do the work.

Questions

Governance, answered plainly.

Who governs Forward University?: A University Council is the governing body, with academic authority held by an Academic Senate. Both charters are published; seats are open and are being filled ahead of the founding intake. Independent quality assurance reports to Council rather than to the executive.
Why are no individuals named yet?: Because most appointments are not signed. Forward publishes the structure, mandate and appointment rule now, and publishes each person's name and background on the day their appointment is confirmed.
Who decides marks and awards?: The Academic Senate holds award authority, and every mark is issued by a trained human evaluator against a published rubric. Software, including Mwalimu, never issues a mark. The AI Oversight Board enforces that rule.
How can a student challenge a decision?: Through the Academic Appeals and Conduct Board, which convenes within ten working days of an admissible appeal. Nobody who taught, marked or mentored the student may sit on their case.

The academic establishment Institutional accountability