Staff shortages crippling universities

A new report from the auditor general’s office shows that there is a need for close to 3,000 lecturers and others in more senior positions in four of Uganda’s five public universities. Institutions that urgently need more academics include Makerere, Gulu, Mbarara and Kyambogo, write Conan Businge and Mary Karugaba for New Vision.

In some public universities, academic staffing is below half of what is required by the National Council for Higher Education. To make matters worse, dons in public universities are leaving for jobs in well-paying private and foreign universities and non-academic jobs.

At Makerere University, it was noted that only 1,403 of 2,654 academic positions were filled, leaving 1,251 (about 47%) positions vacant. Particularly, the report showed that all departments in the schools of economics and business were less than 50% staffed.
Full report on the New Vision site