Can Makerere cope with an extra 2000 students?

This year Makerere University will admit 4,000 state-sponsored students instead of the usual 2,000. The number of private students is estimated at over 10,000. But the total number of students at the campus is expected to be 24,000. Education Vision's Anthony Mugeere reports. Makerere University authorities face an uphill task in coping with the pressure of the extra 2,000 students on government sponsorship. In terms of funding, the university received more money than they asked for. The Ministry of Finance gave Makerere sh6.4b instead of the sh5.2b they asked for. It still remains to be seen, however, whether the university will undertake the required staff and infrastructural changes to meet the challenges this will entail. The academic staffing levels remain low in all faculties, lecture rooms inadequate and accommodation a serious problem. The main university library is one of those unavoidable congestion spots at the university. Worse still, the library chair:student ratio stands at 1:20. All is, however, set for the beginning of the academic year. The list of the government-sponsored students will be out today though some 685 government slots remain unfilled. This could be either because the courses were purely for private students or their programmes had not yet been approved at the time the 'A' level students applied. But there are serious challenges for students admitted on state sponsorship. Those who will join the university as residents in one of the 12 halls of residence will have to bear with the congestion in the rooms they will be allocated. The non-residents will be entitled to the sh200,000 living-out allowance per semester. They are expected to use this money to pay for accommodation and meals outside the university. The money is also meant to cover their breakfast and supper expenses since the university only provides lunch to non-residents. But no one should rub his or her hands in glee over the living out allowance issue. Ben, a first year BSc student rents a small room in a hostel in Makerere Kikoni. He pays sh150,000 per semester. A semester is four months. The balance of sh50,000 is too little to survive on for four months. Accommodation outside the university means renting a room in one of the mushrooming hostels in the surrounding suburbs where life is a nightmare. These hostels are congested and sanitation is poor. Insecurity is a serious problem in the hostels since some of them are not even registered with the university. "We appreciate the problem (of accommodation) but we encourage the students to try and get residence in only those hostels registered with us," says Mr. John Ekudu, the dean of students. But the registered hostels are few and many students have to look to the garages and other places in the surrounding suburbs for accommodation. Some will end up in slum areas like Kivulu, Katanga and Makerere West where crime and prostitution are rife. Their efforts might further be hampered by the fact that the non-residents' living out allowance is given out at the end of the semester. So what is the criteria used for residents and non-residents? All students admitted on government sponsorship, for professional courses such as Law, Mass Communications, Medicine, Education and Engineering, are residents. Those on non-professional courses can only become residents if they get a certain number of points. The lecture rooms are small for most classes. Not all students can get seats during lectures and some prefer to follow lectures from outside through the windows. "Some students sit on benches like primary school children," lamented a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, adding, "I think the proposal to introduce studying in tents should be revisited." The university academic staffing is also quite low compared to the student enrolment. Records show that the university had 1,006 members of the academic staff as at January 1, 2000. The situation is not very different now. Over 50 vacancies of teaching staff were advertised in July last year but have since not been filled. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Opio-Epelu is aware of all the above and more problems but is not losing any sleep over the additional batch of students. "The extra 2,000 students do not pose any problem at all. We have been handling more students before so we are used to the situation," he told Education Vision. Epelu also says the university can cope with the current number of academic staff which he estimates at 1,000. Mr. James Mugasha, the university chief librarian, admits there is need for more space and facilities to cope with the challenge. He talks of plans to launch an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programme that will enable students and other library users to access information in their halls of residence via the Internet. More importantly, Mugasha says, the university is set to launch a sh3.8b expansion project for the main library. The project involves expanding the sitting capacity from 1,000 to 3,000 on an 8,000 sq. metre piece of land. "It is an enormous task," he says. "The focus is now on administrative computing to reduce congestion in the library. We hope to establish at least 80 terminals using cost-effective materials." All faculties will also have fully equipped book banks in line with the policy of decentralisation launched last February. Such plans provide a flicker of hope for the 24,000 students expected to join Makerere this year. ends