Makerere varsity lecturers paid 12 allowances
Dec 12, 2006
The Government salary is just one of 12 sources of earnings for the Makerere University academic staff, making some lecturers pocket between sh5m and sh15m, depending on their responsibilities.
By Vision Reporter
The Government salary is just one of 12 sources of earnings for the Makerere University academic staff, making some lecturers pocket between sh5m and sh15m, depending on their responsibilities.
Besides the basic salary, a university lecture receives a teaching and top-up allowance for evening students programmes, a supervision allowance for PhD or Masters students, as well as allowances for marking, setting examinations and invigilation.
There is also provision for a sitting allowance for meetings, a project coordination allowance, an extra-load allowance, a responsibility allowance for deans, heads of department and heads of sections, and a special assignment allowance.
Are Makerere University lecturers poorly paid?
The government salary forms only one out of twelve sources of earnings for the teaching staff at Makerere University, making some lecturers pocket between sh5m and sh15m, depending on their responsibilities.
On top of the basic salary, a university lecturer receives a teaching and top-up allowance for evening students’ programmes, a supervision allowance for PhD or Masters students, as well as allowances for marking, setting examinations and invigilation.
There is also provision for a sitting allowance for meetings, a project co-ordination allowance, an extra-load allowance, a responsibility allowance for deans, heads of departments and heads of sections, and a special assignment allowance.
The New Vision saw budgets of various faculties, including the Faculty of Arts budget for the 2005/2006 fiscal year. This budget was approved during a meeting of July 6, 2005, chaired by the faculty dean, Associate Professor Hannington Sengendo, and attended by 10 heads of departments. It contained 12 sources of payment.
Lecturers get a basic salary from the Ministry of Finance. This is the cause of the current strike by the Makerere University Academic Staff Assocation (MUASA).
Lecturers insist on being paid sh2.8m as net salary, but the Government wants to pay them this amount as gross.
Besides the salary, there is a teaching allowance for evening student programmes.
This ranges from sh25,000 to sh40,000 per hour. On average, lecturers teach 10 hours per week, which would give them a weekly earning of sh300,000 to sh400,000. Administrative and teaching staff assigned to the evening programmes also receive a top-up allowance. A break down of the monthly top-up allowance indicates that the vice-chancellor earns sh3.8m, his deputy sh3.7m, the university secretary sh3.4m, a senior lecturer sh3.4m and a lecturer sh3m.
A supervision allowance is paid to those who supervise PhD or Master’s students. Depending on the faculty, these charges range from sh25,000 to 40,000 per student.
The marking allowance, additional money for marking examinations and coursework, is sh1,000 per script for undergraduates and 1,500 for post-graduate students at most faculties. Some course units have as many as 600 students, and some lecturers teach as many as three course units.
The examination setting and invigilation allowances vary from one faculty to another. Lecturers who are assigned to invigilate students during examinations are paid between sh10,000 and sh30,000 per hour.
An additional ‘sitting allowance’ was introduced as an incentive to attend meetings. These are departmental committee meetings, examination timetable meetings, finance committee meetings or faculty board meetings.
Allowances range from faculty or departments. In the Faculty of Arts, the lowest category person for departmental committee meeting earns sh15,000.
There is also provision for a project co-ordination allowance. In the Faculty of Arts, a private project co-ordinator earns sh0.6m per month; the head of timetable secretariat, sh0.6m and examination co-ordinators sh270,000.
Then there is the extra-load allowance, for doing extra work, which is often paid per hour.
Deans, heads of departments or heads of sections receive an additional ‘responsibility allowance’. In the Faculty of Arts and Law, the dean gets an additional sh2.5m, the deputy dean sh1.8m and heads of department sh1.2m. The responsibility allowance in the Faculty of Arts extends to the teaching staff as well. Professors get sh230,000 a month, associate professors sh220,000, senior lecturers sh180,000, assistant lecturers sh170,000 and teaching assistants sh140,000.
Finally, there are special assignments allowances. These are allowances for specific tasks given to lecturers. They may include investigating examination malpractices or student unrest.
Most of these allowance are paid out of funds raised from the evening programme which fetches the university between sh25b and sh28b annually. The Government has no control over the funds raised from the evening students’ programme.
MUASA has acknowledged that there is provision for several kinds of allowances but they emphasise these differ from individual to individual. ‘Some of them are tagged to responsibilities such as deanship, headship and coordinationâ€, said Dr Chris Tuhirirwe, the MUASA secretary general.
“In addition to the normal gross salary, the figures include top-up allowances and payment for teaching on private programmes. This money is not uniform even for the same person per month.â€
He also argued that lecturers on private undergraduate and post-graduate programmes share the pay. “In some faculties, there is co-teaching as well as co-marking and other shared activities. In such a case, only one member of staff, preferably the course co-ordinator, claims the pay and shares it out with all the other colleagues, according to everyone’s input,†Tuhirirwe said.
University sources blame the Government for the current show-down with the lecturers. They claim that by surpassing the University Council and meeting MUASA in 2004, President Museveni undermined the council’s authority.
“Since the president is no longer the chancellor of the university, his involvement was unnecessary. What he forgot was that politically-inspired members of MUASA wanted to undermine him,†one source said.
The Government salary is just one of 12 sources of earnings for the Makerere University academic staff, making some lecturers pocket between sh5m and sh15m, depending on their responsibilities.
Besides the basic salary, a university lecture receives a teaching and top-up allowance for evening students programmes, a supervision allowance for PhD or Masters students, as well as allowances for marking, setting examinations and invigilation.
There is also provision for a sitting allowance for meetings, a project coordination allowance, an extra-load allowance, a responsibility allowance for deans, heads of department and heads of sections, and a special assignment allowance.
Are Makerere University lecturers poorly paid?
The government salary forms only one out of twelve sources of earnings for the teaching staff at Makerere University, making some lecturers pocket between sh5m and sh15m, depending on their responsibilities.
On top of the basic salary, a university lecturer receives a teaching and top-up allowance for evening students’ programmes, a supervision allowance for PhD or Masters students, as well as allowances for marking, setting examinations and invigilation.
There is also provision for a sitting allowance for meetings, a project co-ordination allowance, an extra-load allowance, a responsibility allowance for deans, heads of departments and heads of sections, and a special assignment allowance.
The New Vision saw budgets of various faculties, including the Faculty of Arts budget for the 2005/2006 fiscal year. This budget was approved during a meeting of July 6, 2005, chaired by the faculty dean, Associate Professor Hannington Sengendo, and attended by 10 heads of departments. It contained 12 sources of payment.
Lecturers get a basic salary from the Ministry of Finance. This is the cause of the current strike by the Makerere University Academic Staff Assocation (MUASA).
Lecturers insist on being paid sh2.8m as net salary, but the Government wants to pay them this amount as gross.
Besides the salary, there is a teaching allowance for evening student programmes.
This ranges from sh25,000 to sh40,000 per hour. On average, lecturers teach 10 hours per week, which would give them a weekly earning of sh300,000 to sh400,000. Administrative and teaching staff assigned to the evening programmes also receive a top-up allowance. A break down of the monthly top-up allowance indicates that the vice-chancellor earns sh3.8m, his deputy sh3.7m, the university secretary sh3.4m, a senior lecturer sh3.4m and a lecturer sh3m.
A supervision allowance is paid to those who supervise PhD or Master’s students. Depending on the faculty, these charges range from sh25,000 to 40,000 per student.
The marking allowance, additional money for marking examinations and coursework, is sh1,000 per script for undergraduates and 1,500 for post-graduate students at most faculties. Some course units have as many as 600 students, and some lecturers teach as many as three course units.
The examination setting and invigilation allowances vary from one faculty to another. Lecturers who are assigned to invigilate students during examinations are paid between sh10,000 and sh30,000 per hour.
An additional ‘sitting allowance’ was introduced as an incentive to attend meetings. These are departmental committee meetings, examination timetable meetings, finance committee meetings or faculty board meetings.
Allowances range from faculty or departments. In the Faculty of Arts, the lowest category person for departmental committee meeting earns sh15,000.
There is also provision for a project co-ordination allowance. In the Faculty of Arts, a private project co-ordinator earns sh0.6m per month; the head of timetable secretariat, sh0.6m and examination co-ordinators sh270,000.
Then there is the extra-load allowance, for doing extra work, which is often paid per hour.
Deans, heads of departments or heads of sections receive an additional ‘responsibility allowance’. In the Faculty of Arts and Law, the dean gets an additional sh2.5m, the deputy dean sh1.8m and heads of department sh1.2m. The responsibility allowance in the Faculty of Arts extends to the teaching staff as well. Professors get sh230,000 a month, associate professors sh220,000, senior lecturers sh180,000, assistant lecturers sh170,000 and teaching assistants sh140,000.
Finally, there are special assignments allowances. These are allowances for specific tasks given to lecturers. They may include investigating examination malpractices or student unrest.
Most of these allowance are paid out of funds raised from the evening programme which fetches the university between sh25b and sh28b annually. The Government has no control over the funds raised from the evening students’ programme.
MUASA has acknowledged that there is provision for several kinds of allowances but they emphasise these differ from individual to individual. ‘Some of them are tagged to responsibilities such as deanship, headship and coordinationâ€, said Dr Chris Tuhirirwe, the MUASA secretary general.
“In addition to the normal gross salary, the figures include top-up allowances and payment for teaching on private programmes. This money is not uniform even for the same person per month.â€
He also argued that lecturers on private undergraduate and post-graduate programmes share the pay. “In some faculties, there is co-teaching as well as co-marking and other shared activities. In such a case, only one member of staff, preferably the course co-ordinator, claims the pay and shares it out with all the other colleagues, according to everyone’s input,†Tuhirirwe said.
University sources blame the Government for the current show-down with the lecturers. They claim that by surpassing the University Council and meeting MUASA in 2004, President Museveni undermined the council’s authority.
“Since the president is no longer the chancellor of the university, his involvement was unnecessary. What he forgot was that politically-inspired members of MUASA wanted to undermine him,†one source said.