Strengthening Uganda's policy environment for investing in university development

The authors examine the policy environment for investment in university development in Uganda, with special attention to the needs of Makerere University. They present data on the structure and financing of higher education, which gets a high priority in government educational spending. A second public university and new private universities have been established since 1986, but Makerere accounts for most university enrollment and government spending on higher education and it trains most of the country's high-level professional and technical manpower. Its revitalization after many years of neglect is central to government and donor plans for investment in human resource development. The authors emphasize how continuing austerity affects staff retention and staff engagement in academic work, as well as the quality of programs Makerere offers. They present a strategy for university development that involves establishing policy structures to: guide and coordinate investments in higher education as a whole; facilitate the expansion of higher education and the development of diploma-granting institutions to accommodate increasing social demand; and promote cost-saving and revenue-generating activities in the public universities - which would require giving them more autonomy in matters affecting their cost structure and budgeting. Among specific actions they recommend: making better use of public university assets by developing night courses, part-time degree and non-degree programs, and contract training and other income-generating activities; investigating possibilities for better use of university farms and other properties; making more use of existing capacity in public institutions and increasing the capacity of the newly established private universities; strengthening secondary education in science subjects and encouraging more women to study science and technology; coordinating future donor investments so they address the broad needs of Makerere and other universities; and raising incomes of academic and nonacademic university staff members.