Public universities chock on debts, struggle to exist

Public universities across the country are choking on debts amidst underfunding from government. All in need of billions of shillings in funding and are likely to bleed the tax payer, according to a parliamentary report, Sunday Monitor has seen.
The most affected are public universities that have, in the past few years, been opened across the country such as Lira University, Kabale University and Muni University.
Some of the issues include low staffing, poor infrastructure, underfunding for research and lack of commitment to student welfare. Even Soroti University, which is soon opening its doors to the public, is facing problems.

More expenses
Amidst all this, government is in the process of implementing President Museveni’s directive of taking over Busoga University, which was closed in December last year by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) after it was discovered it had awarded degrees to more than 1,000 students, majority of whom were from South Sudan, after a two-month study in 2016.
Established universities such as Makerere, for example, are not spared. Makerere University is grappling with a debt of Shs64.2b. However, an analysis of the total wage enhancement for the public universities paints an even bleaker picture. By the end of the next financial year, government will owe teaching and non-teaching staff at public universities at least Shs105b.

“The committee observes that the public universities’ total wage enhancement for both teaching and non-teaching staff was Shs78.5b in FY2017, however, only Shs19b was allocated, leaving a shortfall of Shs59.5b. In FY2018/19, Shs33b has been allocated, leaving a shortfall of Shs45.5b,” the 53-page report of the sectoral committee on education and sports on the ministerial policy statement and budget estimates for the ministry of Education for the Financial Year 2018/9, reads. If not adequately handled, the legislators warn, this could bring about unrest at the universities.

Dire situation
Majority of the 11 public universities are unable to perform basic functions. All are poorly staffed, averaging at 50 per cent of the required personnel, while others are below 30 per cent.
The issue of lack of resources, especially money, has been a central feature in causing strikes in public universities by both students and lecturers.
On May 2, Kyambogo University teaching staff announced a strike over non-payment of allowances. The staff demand more than Shs4b from their employers.

Their counterparts at Makerere University under Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa) have already put government on notice that their services will not be available by July if their grievances are not addressed, including money owed to them.
For Makerere University, Shs33b was allocated for all categories of staff yet the academic staff at the institution say they expected Shs88b to address their plight, including Shs50b for this academic year and Shs38b in arrears.

General picture
Generally, the parliamentary report describes as “hard” the conditions in which public universities operate. This, they say, undermines “the quality of Higher Education in the country”.
“The Committee recommends that all universities should be allocated additional resources to clear outstanding arrears and avert the risk of litigation that could be costly to government and undermine prudent financial management,” the report further reads.

Staffing gaps
All public universities, the report shows, are staffed below 50 per cent, with the situation worse in new universities such as Lira and Busitema, which have less than 30 per cent of the required staff.
“This financial year, the ministry would require Shs156b to be able to recruit university staff to at least 50 per cent level in all public universities. However, this has been relegated to one of those unfunded priorities in the proposed budget allocation. The committee recommends that government should take the matter of public university staffing as a key priority in ensuring quality in higher education in public universities,” the report notes.

At the minimum, the committee recommends resources should be provided for recruitment of essential academic staff in key disciplines such as medicine, dentistry, engineering and agriculture.
“The committee recommends that the ministry of Education, together with Finance Ministry, should harmonise the salary structure in all public universities and halt the acquisition of new universities until funds are got for full payment of the university staff salaries. The Finance ministry should provide for the Shs105b shortfall in the salaries of public universities to avert unrest at the Universities,” the report reads.

Regulator poorly funded
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), which, among other things, has the mandate to monitor and regulate these universities, is also “grossly underfunded” and poorly staffed, among other problems “resulting to failure to achieve its core mandate of monitoring and regulating institutions of higher education”.
The 11 public universities are part of the 228 higher education institutions the ministry has to supervise.

The committee recommends that the NCHE should be allocated additional funding to, among other things, clear an outstanding contractor’s bill of Shs700m, boost staffing levels from the current 43 staff to 55 at Shs500m and to procure four vehicles for inspection functions at Shs800m.

The situation at the universities

Salary enhancement
• Total wage enhancement for public universities—Shs78.5b (FY2017/18)
• Only Shs19b was allocated, leaving a shortfall of Shs59.5b
• Total wage enhancement for public universities 2018/19—(Shs78.5b)
• Only Shs33b allocated, leaving a shortfall of Shs45.5b
• Total shortfall Shs105b
• Shs156b needed to recruit public university staff to at least 50 per cent.

Busitema
• Development budget has remained static at Shs1.07b over the last eight years despite the increase in the number of campuses from two to six.
• Shs370m needed for staff training, advertising, travels in land, books and periodicals.
• Understaffed at 2O per cent (academic) and 16 per cent (support staff)
• University was allocated Shs1.3b to start the Bachelors of Medicine and Bachelors of Surgery with a batch of 60 students but currently has five batch, with 427 students without any increment in the wage bill.
• Shs4.3b needed to recruit the critical staff plus another Shs1b to operationalise the university technology, business and innovations incubation centre.

Muni University
• University moved fast to establish new faculties of Science and Education yet the existing ones were not adequately facilitated to function effectively.
• University development budget funded at 23 per cent yet it is a new institution.
• Shs400m needed for procurement of two vehicles to facilitate the movement of staff in the execution of the university activities.

Makerere University
• University has accumulated debts to a tune of 64.22b
• Only Shs3.2b was allocated in the FY 2018/19 to settle the debt.
• Indebtedness arose from non-payment of service providers for students’ food and others were from pension contributions and staff arrears.
Mbarara University
• University’s budget for travel abroad, travel inland and Government of Uganda counterpart funding for staff training under the HEST programme was cut.
• Under release of budget, which stands at 22 per cent, risk of delays of the ongoing construction works and the resultant cost overruns and litigation arising from the delayed payment of contractors.
• Shs300m bus yet to be purchased.

MUBS
• School plans to phase out accommodation for government-sponsored students at the main campus due to limited space.
• University’s entrepreneurship programme at Luzira Prison does not cater for female prisoners due to rules at the prison.
• The university’s physical infrastructure designs do not take care of the interest of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

Kyambogo University
• Only public university still using asbestos sheets on its roofs.
• The university’s general physical infrastructure, including lecture rooms, roads and sewerage systems, are outdated and dilapidated beyond repair and needs reconstruction. Shs15b needed to work on critical infrastructure and replace the dilapidated sewerage system.
• Shs5b needed to enable the university recruit critical staff to bring it to a 50 per cent staffing level.
UMI
• Recruited less qualified staff
• New office block delayed due to underfunding.
• Shs2.6bn needed for completion of the building by October to avert the risk of project cost overruns and litigation that may accrue from delayed payment of contractors.
• UMI staffing levels has a gap of 46 staff, representing 39 per cent of the total establishment of 117, of which 65 per cent are teaching staff.

Gulu University
• University has accumulated arrears in gratuity amounting to at least Shs3b. Only 136m allocated next financial year to pay off the debt.
• Operates at 42 per cent of the required staff establishment.
• Shs3.3b needed for recruitment of 43 additional teaching staff as a starting point.
• University had opened up a campus in Kitgum and planning on another in Karamoja, besides the numerous challenges at the main campus.
• The Karamoja campus, a result of a presidential directive, had a budget of Shs500m last year. Only Shs17m has been availed.

Lira University
• University has been training students in Nursing and Midwifery yet it lacks the facilities and staff required to facilitate the courses.
• University has not been provided with funds to recruit staff.
• University’s development budget is too low at only Shs1.5b relative to its infrastructural needs as a new public university.
• University started without an administration block.
• University requires Shs1.8b for the construction of its administrative block.

Kabale University
• University operates a very strained budget, with recurrent expenditure constituting 61.6 per cent of the entire budget.
• Infrastructure development constitutes only 6.2 per cent of the budget and yet the university has not had adequate infrastructure.
• University needs Shs400m to develop a Master Plan
• Infrastructure development and retooling at Shs47b
• Staff recruitment to cater for medicine and engineering at Shs7.1b.
• University at risk of failure to meet the basic quality test for its graduates, especially in sciences, if no staff are recruited.

Soroti University
• While the university was meant to focus on applied sciences, the only courses so far approved focus on economics, accounting and mathematics.
• While the university intends to start a medical programme, it does not have a teaching hospital for medical students.
• The university is yet to secure a grant of €19m or Shs83.2b from the European Union for the faculty of engineering and that of medicine, including a teaching hospital.