Retention Of Academia At Makerere University: A Time-To-Event Analysis

The study investigated the dynamics of the service duration of academic staff at Makerere University basing on the administrative records of 1,486 academic staff at the university, recruited in the period 1987–2012. The period from the date of first appointment to the date of exit was adopted as a measure of the service duration at the university. A time-to-event approach in a Cox model was adopted in the analysis. The results, show that the median duration among academic staff who had left the university service by December 2012 (N = 213) is 4.56 years (range, 0.22–23.32). This figure points to a low retention of academia at the university. The rate of exit from the university service reduces significantly with higher academic ranks and increase in age at the time of recruitment. The findings point to a need to scale-up measures in retaining staff particularly those at lower levels. Key Words: Retention, Academia, Makerere Univrsity, Time-to-event Analysis. Policy