Makerere lecturers to get pay rise next year
Sep 17, 2011
MAKERERE University was closed recently and opening it is still in the balance. <b>Moses Mulondo talked to the vice-chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, about the <br>challenges the university is facing.
MAKERERE University was closed recently and opening it is still in the balance. Moses Mulondo talked to the vice-chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, about the
challenges the university is facing.
From the talks you have had with the Government, what is its position?
The Government has admitted that due to the current high cost of living, staff remuneration is low. But due to inadequacy of funds and the fact that the 2011/12 budget was already made, staff will get a pay rise in the next financial year. Meanwhile, the Government has committed to ensure that the sh16b National Insurance Corporation Ltd (NICL) money as well as salary arrears are paid as soon as possible, and that process has started.
Was the decision to close the university right?
Closing a university is the last thing anybody can do after everything else has failed.
In our case, there had been negotiations with the staff association that involved the President, Prime Minister, ministers of education, finance, University Council and management. The Government made it clear that there will be no salary increment this year and staff insisted on one before they could call off the strike.
Remember the demand for salary increment first surfaced in August 2011.
The Government committed to ensuring that Deposit Administration Plan (DAP) money worth sh16.7b, owed to staff would be remitted. This was necessary because NICL is now a private company.
The students had already made it clear that if the staff do not call off the strike, they would join in.
In order to avoid loss of lives — people around Makerere University had vowed to cut, with pangas, rioting students if they dared disorganise their businesses — the University Council chairman saw it wise to close the university.
How will putting a caveat on NICL assets enable you get the money the company owes the university?
Putting caveats is one of the steps being taken to recover the DAP money. The other option is to institute a legal suit and obtain a court order allowing Makerere University to sell NICL properties. But as per the President’s directive, the money will be remitted to Makerere University by the Government.
Do you find the pay rise demand by lecturers to have the least paid at sh8m per month genuine?
I do not find it genuine, when the number four citizen in this country — the Chief Justice — earns less than sh8m per month. What is needed is a job evaluation in the public sector that would place a professor or an equivalent at the same scale in public service. If this is done, a professor could earn between sh10m and sh20m.
It is unfortunate to find a bachelors degree holder earning more than a professor. Also, a driver in any authority should not earn more than a teaching assistant in a university.
How much is a Makerere University professor earning currently?
They earn sh2.8m each. The lowest paid staff, who is a teaching assistant, earns sh1.7m.
What do the leaders of the university propose as the appropriate remuneration for the lecturers?
A professor should earn between sh13.9m and sh22.3m subject to salary enhancement as in other sectors of public service. This would enable the university to retain its cream of academic staff and also end the frequent strikes over salaries.
Prof. Mahmood Mamdani thinks commercialisation of the university, which has resulted into course duplicat
ion, is lowering the standard of education. What is your take on this?
Mamdani’s ideas and that of many other scholars are helping us in revolutionalising Makerere University. The commercialisation process started in the early 1990s with private programmes. So it will take some time before it can be completely reversed.
What are the major challenges Makerere University is facing?
The main challenge is under funding. This has led to the university’s inability to enhance salaries and meeting other requirements. The other challenge is the domestic arrears of sh40b that were inherited from previous administrations.
Academicians like Prof. Augustine Nuwagaba have warned about the need to structure courses in such a way that students get more practical skills required in the job market and less of the theory. How do you plan to go about that?
The practical skills courses are already part of the curriculum. What we now need are laboratory facilities. We are expecting funding from African Development Bank and the Chinese government.
What are your most outstanding achievements as vice-chancellor, so far?
We have had improved services to the students, staff and the general public. For students, most of the services have been computerised and students can obtain their transcripts after completion and certificates on graduation day.
The academic reforms have led to creation of colleges and restructuring of academic programmes, among others.
In the area of financial management, we are now able to account for every penny we receive and there is more transparency in the way funds are handled. Financial controls have been strengthened through reduction of costing centres.
As a result of several achievements in the area of teaching and learning, research and innovations and community engagement, Makerere University is now ranked among the best 10 universities in Africa.
What new vision do you have in the pipeline for improving the standard and performance of Makerere University?
The new ideas are all aimed at making Makerere University one of the top five universities in Africa. Teaching and learning is now student-centred, problem-based learning.
We are currently working on ensuring that all our programmes are available in a digital learning format. We have put in place strategies to link up with the private sector and ensure that we have knowledge transfer partners and commercialisation of innovations.
Each college will have a grants office to enable it raise research funds through grants, donations and commissioned research.
How closure has affected students
Angela NdaganoK
Shakira Nabukenya, a student of tourism says: “I can’t go back home because I came all the way from Mbale. My mother, a single mum, used all her savings sto pay my tuition and hostel fees. I can’t put her through the task of looking for transport moneyâ€, she adds.
Nabukenya represents a big number of Makerere University who have been affected the lecturers strike. They can neither attend lectures not access the library.
“You can’t sit in the hostel the whole day, you end up going to town and spending on unncessary thingsâ€, explains Fred Kalisa a social sciences student. “Some students even begin drinking alcohol by lunch-time because they are idle.â€
Foreign students
Ingrid Stephan, a Tanzanian student, has no relative in Kampala to run to. I might decide to go back today and then the university is re-opened tomorrow,†he says.
The situation is more complicated for Ray, an exchange student from Canada.
“If the semester is shortened because of the strike, I might have to be forced to do more school in Canada to get my full credits.
And if the semester is extended, I cannot travel home for the holidaysâ€. For now, she has decided to use the opportunity to tour other parts of the country.
challenges the university is facing.
From the talks you have had with the Government, what is its position?
The Government has admitted that due to the current high cost of living, staff remuneration is low. But due to inadequacy of funds and the fact that the 2011/12 budget was already made, staff will get a pay rise in the next financial year. Meanwhile, the Government has committed to ensure that the sh16b National Insurance Corporation Ltd (NICL) money as well as salary arrears are paid as soon as possible, and that process has started.
Was the decision to close the university right?
Closing a university is the last thing anybody can do after everything else has failed.
In our case, there had been negotiations with the staff association that involved the President, Prime Minister, ministers of education, finance, University Council and management. The Government made it clear that there will be no salary increment this year and staff insisted on one before they could call off the strike.
Remember the demand for salary increment first surfaced in August 2011.
The Government committed to ensuring that Deposit Administration Plan (DAP) money worth sh16.7b, owed to staff would be remitted. This was necessary because NICL is now a private company.
The students had already made it clear that if the staff do not call off the strike, they would join in.
In order to avoid loss of lives — people around Makerere University had vowed to cut, with pangas, rioting students if they dared disorganise their businesses — the University Council chairman saw it wise to close the university.
How will putting a caveat on NICL assets enable you get the money the company owes the university?
Putting caveats is one of the steps being taken to recover the DAP money. The other option is to institute a legal suit and obtain a court order allowing Makerere University to sell NICL properties. But as per the President’s directive, the money will be remitted to Makerere University by the Government.
Do you find the pay rise demand by lecturers to have the least paid at sh8m per month genuine?
I do not find it genuine, when the number four citizen in this country — the Chief Justice — earns less than sh8m per month. What is needed is a job evaluation in the public sector that would place a professor or an equivalent at the same scale in public service. If this is done, a professor could earn between sh10m and sh20m.
It is unfortunate to find a bachelors degree holder earning more than a professor. Also, a driver in any authority should not earn more than a teaching assistant in a university.
How much is a Makerere University professor earning currently?
They earn sh2.8m each. The lowest paid staff, who is a teaching assistant, earns sh1.7m.
What do the leaders of the university propose as the appropriate remuneration for the lecturers?
A professor should earn between sh13.9m and sh22.3m subject to salary enhancement as in other sectors of public service. This would enable the university to retain its cream of academic staff and also end the frequent strikes over salaries.
Prof. Mahmood Mamdani thinks commercialisation of the university, which has resulted into course duplicat
ion, is lowering the standard of education. What is your take on this?
Mamdani’s ideas and that of many other scholars are helping us in revolutionalising Makerere University. The commercialisation process started in the early 1990s with private programmes. So it will take some time before it can be completely reversed.
What are the major challenges Makerere University is facing?
The main challenge is under funding. This has led to the university’s inability to enhance salaries and meeting other requirements. The other challenge is the domestic arrears of sh40b that were inherited from previous administrations.
Academicians like Prof. Augustine Nuwagaba have warned about the need to structure courses in such a way that students get more practical skills required in the job market and less of the theory. How do you plan to go about that?
The practical skills courses are already part of the curriculum. What we now need are laboratory facilities. We are expecting funding from African Development Bank and the Chinese government.
What are your most outstanding achievements as vice-chancellor, so far?
We have had improved services to the students, staff and the general public. For students, most of the services have been computerised and students can obtain their transcripts after completion and certificates on graduation day.
The academic reforms have led to creation of colleges and restructuring of academic programmes, among others.
In the area of financial management, we are now able to account for every penny we receive and there is more transparency in the way funds are handled. Financial controls have been strengthened through reduction of costing centres.
As a result of several achievements in the area of teaching and learning, research and innovations and community engagement, Makerere University is now ranked among the best 10 universities in Africa.
What new vision do you have in the pipeline for improving the standard and performance of Makerere University?
The new ideas are all aimed at making Makerere University one of the top five universities in Africa. Teaching and learning is now student-centred, problem-based learning.
We are currently working on ensuring that all our programmes are available in a digital learning format. We have put in place strategies to link up with the private sector and ensure that we have knowledge transfer partners and commercialisation of innovations.
Each college will have a grants office to enable it raise research funds through grants, donations and commissioned research.
How closure has affected students
Angela NdaganoK
Shakira Nabukenya, a student of tourism says: “I can’t go back home because I came all the way from Mbale. My mother, a single mum, used all her savings sto pay my tuition and hostel fees. I can’t put her through the task of looking for transport moneyâ€, she adds.
Nabukenya represents a big number of Makerere University who have been affected the lecturers strike. They can neither attend lectures not access the library.
“You can’t sit in the hostel the whole day, you end up going to town and spending on unncessary thingsâ€, explains Fred Kalisa a social sciences student. “Some students even begin drinking alcohol by lunch-time because they are idle.â€
Foreign students
Ingrid Stephan, a Tanzanian student, has no relative in Kampala to run to. I might decide to go back today and then the university is re-opened tomorrow,†he says.
The situation is more complicated for Ray, an exchange student from Canada.
“If the semester is shortened because of the strike, I might have to be forced to do more school in Canada to get my full credits.
And if the semester is extended, I cannot travel home for the holidaysâ€. For now, she has decided to use the opportunity to tour other parts of the country.