Kyambogo University short of 234 lecturers

Kyambogo University seeks to recruit an additional 234 lecturers so as to handle the soaring number of students.
According to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Elly Katunguka Rwakishaya, currently there are 386 lecturers teaching 25,000 students on campus and another 45,000 in affiliated institutions namely National Teachers Colleges, Primary Teachers' Colleges and a host of other institutions.

He explains that they are involved in talks with the Public Service and Finance and Planning Ministries to allow them recruit 234 lecturers so as to bring the number of academic staff to 620. Professor Katunguka says the increasing number of students is piling pressure on the few academic staff and resources in the university.

"The current 386 trainers and teachers are still below the number of staff required to manage the student numbers and we are in discussions with relevant ministries of our urgent need for more human resources," he said during day one the 14 graduation ceremony held on Wednesday at the university main campus.

136 of the 386 academic staff are Phd holders. This means that they will be able to develop new graduate programmes and to supervise postgraduate students in addition to increasing the number of grants and publications from Kyambogo University.

Prof. Katunguka noted that the university has recruited 60 Graduate Fellows to aid teaching of the students and to fill gaps brought about by under-staffing. Graduate Fellows are the best students who scored first class or second class upper degrees in the recent graduation.

The vice chancellor says these; "Will form the low cadre of academic staff, and this will be the first step in the drive of the university to grow its own professors." According to Prof. Katunguka, due to the high student numbers, they have been hiring over 700 part-time lecturers spread across various faculties and departments.

He however, notes dependence on part time staff comes with a huge financial burden and compromises the quality of teaching. The part timers often hold the university at ransom over accumulated allowances and arrears. The university has also introduced several undergraduate; Masters and doctorate programs.

Some of the new programs that started this year include; Bachelor of Graphics Design, Bachelor of Textile and Apparel design, Bachelor of Interior and landscape design, Bachelor of Science in Leather tanning technology, Bachelor of electrical engineering and Bachelor of Mechatronics and Biomedical engineering.

At Masters Level, the university introduced a Master of Science in Human Nutrition, Master in Special Needs Education, Master of engineering in construction technology, Master of engineering in manufacturing systems, Master of engineering in structural engineering, Master of engineering in Water and Sanitation engineering and a Master of Science in Chemistry in addition to offering Ph.D in sports science and Ph.D in Education.

Majority of the new courses are taught by part-time lecturers and contract staff, which Prof. Katunguka says is unsustainable and asks government to expedite the process to allow them to recruit the required staff.