Renowned scholar urges Makerere to cut student intake

Makerere University needs to cut down on its student population if it is to improve the quality of teaching and research, which has reached an all-time low, celebrated scholar Professor Mahmood Mamdani has advised, writes Francis Kagolo for The New Vision.

Mamdani, in his latest write-up delivered at the university's doctoral convention last week, argued that Makerere's decision to increase student intake, following the World Bank policy to reduce funding on higher education in the late 1980s, has done more harm than good.

"The reform was predicated first of all on producing numbers. Student admissions were increased recklessly, without any thought to the need for corresponding expansion of the material infrastructure or human capacities," he noted. "As enrolment ballooned, classes exploded, tutorials ended and the quality of teaching reached an all-time low."
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