Makerere University dons deserve better salaries
KAROORO OKURUT<br><i>A literary and socio-political analyst</i><br><br>The news that Makerere University professors are threatening to lay down their tools this week if their leadership allowances are not paid is very disconcerting.
KAROORO OKURUT
A literary and socio-political analyst
The news that Makerere University professors are threatening to lay down their tools this week if their leadership allowances are not paid is very disconcerting.
The professors demand some sh180m in arrears; which is ideally a top-up to what they consider already meagre salaries; something which the University Council seems so far reluctant to oblige.
I recall a professor friend of mine who taught for 20 years at Makerere and on getting another job had to quit the university. That was 1996. And for his troubles he was given a gratuity of a paltry sh2m. Two million! No pension of course, remember. I could also tell you of many professors, who after decades of teaching, left with disgraceful amounts. Many of them could not even put up decent shelter because they earned peanuts. Some of them drove rickety-rackety excuses of vehicles; not because it is fashionable for a professor to do so, but because they cannot afford better ones. Most of them in fact could not even afford vehicles; they simply walked.
I checked how much the Americans pay their university professors on the average. A full professor at a doctoral institution like Makerere is paid some $161,000 a year – make that about sh320m a year; which is at least sh27m every month. An associate professor at the same institution will get $105,000 a year; which is about sh210,000,000 a year which is nearly sh18m every month. That means each full professor at an American university on the average, will take home the salary of almost 10 professors at Makerere!
Now, tell me why we should make noise about brain drain – academics leaving the country for greener pastures? (an understatement in this case).
Although Uganda most certainly will not be able to afford to match such figures anytime soon (America is a developed country and light years ahead of us), it should be able to make the professors’ pay more reasonable. Increased pay in such a scenario is an important structural incentive for institutions like Makerere to teach better, research deeper and also ensure a solid institutional framework that retains its best performers who in turn nurture new generations of brilliant minds that will take over the mantle.
As things stand, it becomes tricky – not to mention counter- productive – for the country to ‘bleed’ its finest brains in the sense of losing them steadily and then expect high standards to be maintained in institutions like Makerere.
A professor who is badly paid can be understood if he spends most of his time in the field of consultancy for organisations that pay real dime for good brains – the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations and others, instead of investing time in his students. Paying professors and lecturers well should not be looked at as another huge expense. It should be viewed as an investment. A nation’s greatest asset is its human resource; and that is what forms the basis for sustainable development. Without skilled manpower across the board and amongst all the people, a nation may be able to count its citizens in terms of votes but not much more. The simple reason is that when you have solidly educated citizens you have quality population. In economic terms that is an excellent market because people are enlightened and therefore their demand for certain goods and services increases.
Investors inevitably get attracted to such a market because the one who has computers will be sure there is a demand for them.
No investor wants to deal with a hugely illiterate population because even at basic levels such as labour, he would have to import skilled manpower, something which is of course very expensive. A good way of looking at increasing lecturers’ pay is to consider the effect this could have on their performance in the classroom; on the young, eager minds that are open, waiting to be infused with knowledge. In the long term, security and stability also depend on an educated population. Countries like Japan and Denmark which have 100 per cent literacy rate are also some of the more stable democratically. They have lower crime rates and Japan for one, anyone who commits a crime stands 97 per cent chance of getting caught. They are also more productive; which is why Japan – with nearly 70 per cent of its land rocky and mountainous, is among the world’s most industrialised. And Denmark with a population of just 5.5 million is one of the most important donors of countries like Uganda (which has 30 million).
Apart from all this, one should remember that we have been putting high demands on Makerere University to produce better quality graduates, introduce courses tailor-made to address our development concerns; courses that are market-driven and make it easier to get into the job market after graduation.
We have been demanding more research, more publications and more invention from the country’s premier institution. All this will remain difficult to attain unless we step up our investment into the university lecturers. It is at this point that one should ask, where does the money from private tuition go? If a decent part of it is not invested into the lecturers, then there is a big problem and it should be sorted out urgently.
If we have got students who are paying good money, their teachers most certainly ought to feel that in their pockets. It is quite ambitious to expect excellent output from a teacher you pay badly. And it is even more critical when you consider that this country is entrusting its human resource to people, most of whom are unmotivated, desperate and struggling.
Money can never be enough; but there should be a standard that makes the walimu reasonably comfortable.
We hope and pray the University Council will find a solution so that we don’t have to reach a stage when the professors will down their tools.
A literary and socio-political analyst
The news that Makerere University professors are threatening to lay down their tools this week if their leadership allowances are not paid is very disconcerting.
The professors demand some sh180m in arrears; which is ideally a top-up to what they consider already meagre salaries; something which the University Council seems so far reluctant to oblige.
I recall a professor friend of mine who taught for 20 years at Makerere and on getting another job had to quit the university. That was 1996. And for his troubles he was given a gratuity of a paltry sh2m. Two million! No pension of course, remember. I could also tell you of many professors, who after decades of teaching, left with disgraceful amounts. Many of them could not even put up decent shelter because they earned peanuts. Some of them drove rickety-rackety excuses of vehicles; not because it is fashionable for a professor to do so, but because they cannot afford better ones. Most of them in fact could not even afford vehicles; they simply walked.
I checked how much the Americans pay their university professors on the average. A full professor at a doctoral institution like Makerere is paid some $161,000 a year – make that about sh320m a year; which is at least sh27m every month. An associate professor at the same institution will get $105,000 a year; which is about sh210,000,000 a year which is nearly sh18m every month. That means each full professor at an American university on the average, will take home the salary of almost 10 professors at Makerere!
Now, tell me why we should make noise about brain drain – academics leaving the country for greener pastures? (an understatement in this case).
Although Uganda most certainly will not be able to afford to match such figures anytime soon (America is a developed country and light years ahead of us), it should be able to make the professors’ pay more reasonable. Increased pay in such a scenario is an important structural incentive for institutions like Makerere to teach better, research deeper and also ensure a solid institutional framework that retains its best performers who in turn nurture new generations of brilliant minds that will take over the mantle.
As things stand, it becomes tricky – not to mention counter- productive – for the country to ‘bleed’ its finest brains in the sense of losing them steadily and then expect high standards to be maintained in institutions like Makerere.
A professor who is badly paid can be understood if he spends most of his time in the field of consultancy for organisations that pay real dime for good brains – the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations and others, instead of investing time in his students. Paying professors and lecturers well should not be looked at as another huge expense. It should be viewed as an investment. A nation’s greatest asset is its human resource; and that is what forms the basis for sustainable development. Without skilled manpower across the board and amongst all the people, a nation may be able to count its citizens in terms of votes but not much more. The simple reason is that when you have solidly educated citizens you have quality population. In economic terms that is an excellent market because people are enlightened and therefore their demand for certain goods and services increases.
Investors inevitably get attracted to such a market because the one who has computers will be sure there is a demand for them.
No investor wants to deal with a hugely illiterate population because even at basic levels such as labour, he would have to import skilled manpower, something which is of course very expensive. A good way of looking at increasing lecturers’ pay is to consider the effect this could have on their performance in the classroom; on the young, eager minds that are open, waiting to be infused with knowledge. In the long term, security and stability also depend on an educated population. Countries like Japan and Denmark which have 100 per cent literacy rate are also some of the more stable democratically. They have lower crime rates and Japan for one, anyone who commits a crime stands 97 per cent chance of getting caught. They are also more productive; which is why Japan – with nearly 70 per cent of its land rocky and mountainous, is among the world’s most industrialised. And Denmark with a population of just 5.5 million is one of the most important donors of countries like Uganda (which has 30 million).
Apart from all this, one should remember that we have been putting high demands on Makerere University to produce better quality graduates, introduce courses tailor-made to address our development concerns; courses that are market-driven and make it easier to get into the job market after graduation.
We have been demanding more research, more publications and more invention from the country’s premier institution. All this will remain difficult to attain unless we step up our investment into the university lecturers. It is at this point that one should ask, where does the money from private tuition go? If a decent part of it is not invested into the lecturers, then there is a big problem and it should be sorted out urgently.
If we have got students who are paying good money, their teachers most certainly ought to feel that in their pockets. It is quite ambitious to expect excellent output from a teacher you pay badly. And it is even more critical when you consider that this country is entrusting its human resource to people, most of whom are unmotivated, desperate and struggling.
Money can never be enough; but there should be a standard that makes the walimu reasonably comfortable.
We hope and pray the University Council will find a solution so that we don’t have to reach a stage when the professors will down their tools.