Universities must focus on science, not ‘useless’ arts

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, once a student of the arts but now a champion of science, has advised universities funded by the government to develop more science courses and to drop many in the arts and humanities.

Last month Museveni expressed concern that arts and humanities courses offered by universities were “useless”, that their graduates were not employable in the labour market in Uganda and internationally – and that they were irrelevant to development.

Statistics show that the government has almost stopped giving scholarships to students taking arts and humanities courses, in favour of science.

The proportion of 4,000 government scholarships for public universities going to science students has grown from 53% in 2006 to over 75% now, and the rest go to law students.

In his state of the nation address last June, Museveni said that as a result of higher education’s shift to science, a new awakening was apparent.

He had noticed that science graduates were starting manufacturing enterprises in association with others or singly, and that scientists were being absorbed into new companies like the Bujagali hydropower station – so the strategy was paying off.

Critique of Museveni’s position

Professor Calestous Juma of the Harvard Kennedy School, currently also a Dr Martin Luther King Jr Visiting Professor in the department of urban studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, contextualised Museveni’s science versus arts advice in an article for Al Jazeera this month.

He said Museveni’s drive for higher education courses that imparted life skills and science was aimed at increasing the production of new kinds of professionals for emerging sectors such as energy, agribusiness, industry, services and healthcare.

“In essence, Museveni is calling for creation of a new generation of ‘developmental universities’ which focus on building skills, fostering entrepreneurs and championing new research.

“Attempts to promote this kind of education are often resisted by incumbent universities which defend the status quo. They seek to defend themselves against the possible erosion of their influence and access to power and finances,” wrote Juma.

“Museveni's critique is a reflection of deeper interest among African leaders to bring their educational systems in line with contemporary development needs. Addressing the complex challenges associated with development will require greater investment in technical skills, not just sharper debating skills.”

Supporters

Professor Ratemo Michieka of the University of Nairobi said Museveni was right to give more prominence to sciences than other disciplines, and confirmed that Kenya would soon do the same.

“Any development lies in science, technology and innovation. We will still support other disciplines notwithstanding the move, but on a lesser scale,” Michieka told University World News.

Among the courses Museveni has pronounced useless are bachelors of development studies, women and gender studies, and conflict resolution. The president wondered what would happen when conflicts were resolved and how many jobs this course would create.

He said such courses should be considered as papers but not full degrees and hailed Mbarara University of Science and Technology – MUST – which he said had stuck to only relevant courses and whose graduates find employment easily. MUST scrapped development studies.

But Professor Frederick Kayanja, vice-chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology – which Museveni keeps referring to as a model – said science did not solve all problems.

“Science has been neglected for a long time so it is a good thing to champion, but it cannot solve all our problems. Humanities are important too,” said Kayanja.

Dr Paul Nampala, grants manager at the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture – RUFORUM – said strengthening science higher education was a good idea and there was evidence to prove this. Successful emerging and developed countries, such as Singapore, had supported science as an engine for national development.

“It is also an issue of prioritisation. Government intervention is serving as an incentive to attract students to sciences,” said Nampala, stressing that Uganda needed to prioritise basic sciences in particular.

Principal of Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Professor Nelson Sewankambo, said a stress on sciences was necessary for a country’s development but noted that the number of students taking science subjects at advanced level in schools was still very low, at 22%.

“No country has developed without a critical mass of scientists. We need to encourage more men and women to study science,” said Sewankambo.

However, scientists have questioned the idea of the government supporting science at higher education level when at lower levels of education science teaching is inadequate. Most schools teach science at the theoretical level but they lack learning facilities like laboratories and consumables to make it practical.

“It is not good enough,” said Professor Hannington Oryem-Origa, a plant physiologist at Makerere University.

“If we are to instil the spirit of discovery and innovation in students we need to provide practical learning facilities. It may be expensive, but there is no innovation or discovery without a price.” After all, basic sciences provide the building blocks and data for the applied sciences, said Oryem-Origa.

Makerere University is heeding Museveni’s advice, and is already considering merging and dropping some courses that are not cost effective.