28 November 2009
editorial
A new survey by respected pollsters Synovate indicates that Ugandans are losing confidence in public universities. These findings should be an eye opener to protagonists in the Higher Education sector, since the nation is trying to position itself as a centre of learning in the Great Lakes Region.
The five public universities - Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Busitema and Mbarara University of Science and Technology ought to react positively by reinventing themselves. Though not covered by the survey, private universities also have much to learn.
Makerere University and MUST, which lost 16 and 11 percentage points respectively over a 12-month period, should be particularly concerned by their declining public image. Such a loss of confidence is occasioned by universities' failure to meet the public's changing demands.
Universities are supposed to be centres of excellence in learning, as well as in creating knowledge through research. Unfortunately, the public views many of our universities as 'glorified secondary schools' in which students learn little, and do not contribute an iota of new knowledge.
A discomforting number of university graduates are failing to impress at the workplace and cannot write or speak correct English. Paradoxically, this is at a time that university education is at it's most expensive, with parents paying millions of shillings in tuition fees. The Synovate report indicates that the cheapest course is Shs500,000 or $300 per semester in an economy in which the vast majority are either living in absolute poverty (less than a dollar a day,) or relative poverty ($1-2 per day).
Newly appointed Makerere University vice chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba has vowed to manage the country's oldest institution like a self-sustaining corporation. This is a model that can be replicated across the country. Universities must meanwhile address overcrowding in dilapidated halls and lecture rooms, an appalling lecturer to student ratio, failure to pay lecturers and the sex for marks phenomenon.
Besides, it is imperative for government to reverse a trend that has seen funding for public universities progressively decline over the last few years.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
