Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution for Academic Excellence in Africa Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of The 3rd State of the Nation Platform December 4, 2009 Kampala, Uganda Bernard Tabaire Jackie Okao Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution ACODE Policy Dialoguefor AcademicSeries Excellence No. in Africa8, 2010 Table of Content List of Acronyms................................................................................................ .ii 1.Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 2.Summarry of Discussion............................................................................... 3 2.1 Financial Performance.........................................................................3 2.2 Research and Knowledge Management.......................................... .4 2.3 Quality of Service Delivery............................................................. .5 2.4 Management/Staff Relations.......................................................... 6 2.5 University/ Student Relations.......................................................... 6 2.6 University/Government Relations.................................................... 8 2.7 University Image and Standing......................................................... 8 2.8 Governance........................................................................................... 9 3. Issues to Ponder........................................................................................... 10 4. Annex: List of Participants.............................................................................. 12 Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution i for Academic Excellence in Africa List of Acronyms ACM Association for Computing Machinery ACODE Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment BTVET Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training FM Frequency Modulation ICT Information and Communication Technology IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers MUASA Makerere University Academic Staff Association STON State of the Nation TTI Think Tank Initiative Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution ii for Academic Excellence in Africa INTRODUCTION Established in 1922 as a technical independent universities: University of school, Makerere University is now Nairobi, University of Dar es Salaam, one of the largest universities in and Makerere University. eastern and central Africa with 20 faculties/institutes/schools offering not Makerere was home to many post-in- only day but also evening and external dependence African leaders, includ- study programmes to a student body ing late Ugandan president Milton of more than 30,000 undergraduates Obote and late Tanzanian president and 3,000 postgraduates. It is also a Julius Nyerere. Former Tanzanian centre of research. president Benjamin Mkapa and cur- rent Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki In 1963,Makerere University College are also Makerere alumni. became the University of East Africa.1* It became an independent national In the years immediately after Uganda’s university in 1970 when the University independence, Makerere University of East Africa was split into three was a focal point for the literary activity that was central to African 1Background information adopted from Wikipedia. Cover photo: Prof. Baryamureeba, Ag. Vice Chancellor Makerere University (standing) delivering his master plan to reposition Makerere University among the top African Universities while Onesmus Mugyenyi (seated) analysing the master plan at the 3rd session of the State of the Nation platform on December 4, 2009. Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution for Academic Excellence in Africa nationalist culture. Some prominent It appears, however, that Makerere can writers, including Nuruddin Farah, Ali pick itself up. After all, no condition is Mazrui, David Rubadiri, Okello Oculi, permanent. Toward the end of 2009, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, John Ruganda, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, a Paul Theroux, V.S. Naipaul and Peter young computer scientist and dean of Nazareth, were at Makerere at one Makerere’s Faculty of Computing and point in their writing and academic Information Technology, was named careers. In those days, Makerere acting vice chancellor. On December Medical School conducted top-notch 4, 2009, Prof. Baryamureeba research. presented his plan to revive Makerere at the third session of the State of the However, the days when Makerere was Nation platform. admiringly referred to as the Harvard of Africa are long gone. Makerere’s He spoke about the need to streamline decay dovetailed with the decline of management practices through the country starting in the early 1970s. employing more open administrative But even when the country started to systems and integrating the use of pick up in the late 1980s, structural information and communication adjustment policies ensured a cut in technologies in all university operations. government funding. General poor This, he hopes, will allow Makerere to management of the institution has move into more systematic planning only made the situation worse. The that will help raise money, improve university is now characterised by the quality of teaching and research, numerous student and staff strikes and enhance staff welfare, and once again raise the overall profile of the a decline in academic performance. university. Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution for Academic Excellence in Africa SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Financial Performance To improve financial performance, Prof. Baryamureeba said Makerere will Financial performance is concerned have to reduce waste while at the same with measuring the results of an time being innovative in generating organisation’s policies and operations money. The acting vice chancellor’s in monetary terms whereas financial efficiency plan entails, among others, management entails planning for the automating financial management to future of the organisation to ensure a enable the enforcement of budget line positive cash flow. Makerere’s financial performance and generation of financial management challenges come from a information to ensure transparency. lack of control structures and systems This in turn would lead to cutting the as well as running the university not number of top management meetings as a revenue-generating entity but to once a month from the present once rather as an expenditure entity. The a week. At 2,400 courses, curricula university lacks a business plan and that will be revised; and the 27 faculties implies that there is no clear direction collapsed into seven. for raising revenue. A strategic plan without a clear business plan is largely The university also has to increase impossible to execute. There has been on the amount of money it generates elastic recruitment of administrative internally. To do so, it will launch staff at the centre, which continues to university learning centres country increase the wage bill. For several years, wide to run certificate, diploma, and the university has run a deficit budget bachelor’s degree programmes. Instead and has domestic arrears of three of erecting buildings, Makerere will years of Shs26 billion. Also, processes rent space in order to manage costs. in the university are extravagant and Campus FM will be revamped with two wasteful with too many administrators components – a commercial arm and coupled with poor accounting by the a training arm. The university will also staff in terms of who is doing what. develop its idle land, renovate its houses Participants generally agreed with Prof. in the upscale Kololo neighbourhood of Baryamureeba’s diagnosis. They added Kampala and rent them out at market that decision-making at the university rates, appeal to alumni for donations, is too expensive because of too many allow companies to advertise in form of allowances for the too many managerial screen savers on university computers, committees that meet too many times. and get academic staff to research and On top of this, there is inadequate publish more to raise the university’s transparency and accountability. rankings and thereby attract more funding. Some truly innovative ideas Reviving Makerere University to a Leading Institution for Academic Excellence in Africa that Prof. Baryamureeba suggested mation on research funded by key include supporting incubation centres development partners through insti- in things like software engineering and tutional development programmes. food science and technology to run as Makerere has potential for a larger commercial businesses following the output of high quality research and research and development model. publications but this is still limited by There is also the idea of establishing a weak linkages with the private sec- commercial zone at the main campus tor yet a lot of research elsewhere is by renovating the existing structures funded by the private sector. There is so that spaces can be rented out to also little initiative/ability to source for businesses such as banks, bookstores, research funding, and limited publicity telecoms, food and coffee shops. of research accomplishments and on- going initiatives through the Web and Research and Knowledge Internet media. Management Strategies for improvement, according Research and knowledge management to Prof. Baryamureeba, include refers to processes and systems that developing an integrated system that facilitate research and innovations, will