Kyambogo considers hike in tuition to pay part-time lecturers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kyambogo University is facing a staffing crisis that has forced its management to resort to part-time lecturers. It is considering a tuition increase to address budgetary shortfalls.

Prof Eli Katunguka, the Vice-Chancellor, notes that the university has  404 full-time teaching staff members out of an approved structure of about one thousand two hundred and eight lecturers. Katunguka said slightly about  31% of the posts are filled.

Kyambogo has only five professors out of the required 63 professors. It has 23 associate professors instead of 113, and 62 senior lecturers instead of 206. There are 176 lecturers while the university needs 312.

“There have been years when I was the only professor at Kyambogo, and this situation has persisted for the past decade. To address the shortage, we have hired over 500 part-time lecturers. These lecturers are paid from outside the university’s regular wage allocation, which is set at 67 billion shillings,” said Professor Katunguka.

With part-time lecturers hired at various levels, including professors and other academic ranks, Kyambogo University needs at least 16.5 billion shillings to cover their salaries. They are paid 50,000 shillings per hour.

The university owes part-time lecturers 6.5 billion shillings in arrears. Some have tended to withhold student marks around graduation time. The university is appealing for increased government support to enhance senior academic staffing, especially in critical fields like engineering and science. A

Prof. Katunguka said without the needed support, the University plans to review and increase tuition fees.

Kyambogo University is among the public universities charging the lowest tuition fees. It has reportedly maintained those rates for the past 16 years.

For instance, diploma courses range from as low as 320,000 shillings for special needs programs to 850,000 shillings for engineering courses, with other diploma programs priced around 400,000 shillings.

For bachelor’s degrees, the highest tuition at Kyambogo is 1.47 million shillings for engineering programs, which is significantly lower than the over 5 million shillings per semester charged by other institutions. Most other degree programs at Kyambogo range from 420,000 to 1.05 million shillings.

Professor Katunguka stated that while Kyambogo University is reviewing its tuition fees, the increases will not match the higher rates charged by private institutions. Instead, the new fees will be aligned with, or potentially remain lower than, those of other public universities.

He explained that the need for a fee adjustment stems from significant changes over the past 16 years, including increased costs for teaching materials, particularly in engineering and science programs. He also noted that the budget is under pressure due to the expenses associated with part-time staff, which has led to outstanding arrears on other critical items, including utilities such as water.

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URN