Makerere University Closure
The joy of witnessing Uganda’s prodigy, Steven Kiprotich win a gold medal in Moscow was malingering in my heart when a friend called me from Edmonton. I had anticipated a more animated pre-victory discussion of Kiprotich’s sweet triumph, but in fact we were lured into discussing Makerere University closure.
People who are educated at Makerere University have very strong emotional attachment to this institution. Not that it is the oldest University in the region as such, but as an alma mater and an intellectual repository - an instrument of civilization whose centrality in spurring our economy is incontestable. We agreed that the closure of Makerere University is indeed a shame to the nation’s conscience, and to Africa as a whole.
There are three insights emerging out of this Makerere University closure debate: the attitude attributed to the state operators; the poor grasp of the role of University academic staff and; the centrality of a University like Makerere, in advancing human civilization. I will discuss each separately;
Attitude of the state operators
To fully contextualize the current problem dogging Makerere University, we ought to understand the origins of the problem – pay. Ever since the implementation of the liberalization of the economy in the 90s, Makerere University has increasingly become commercialized, enabling it to generate revenues from private students schemes and other ventures. Paradoxically, the University has never become financially independent and yet every year, tuition costs, number of students and faculties are increasing. Further, when the University teaching staff decided to go on strike, they did so not in an overnight, but through years of seeking audience with the authorities from the Prof. Tanga Odoi’s era.
The attitude of the state operators towards the MUK Dons is one which has been persistent indifference. This partly because most of the staffs are regime’s apologists so whoever advances critical issues such as "pay increment", is considered anti-establishment. For many years, MUK was expected to infatuate with the regime and to embed the NRM ideology as part of the correct-lines in the curriculae - a practice that was accomplished. Through many political appointments, the University employees and staffs have become complacent to the regime with the hope of following in the footsteps of Prof. Apollo Nsibambi and others.
When President Museveni stated that the striking Professors should go and rear goats, he knew that Makerere University no longer matter in the grand scheme of things at this stage in his political career. MUK is too independent minded and yet there are other Universities which professes the NRM ideology as expected. Ofondo Opondo, the Media Centre director actually contextualized the attitude of his regime towards MUK very succinctly when he said that the closure of Makerere University would not bring down the skies.
Role of Professors
For many years now, Makerere University’s ranking in Africa and in the world has been dismal despite its historical contribution to academia, the economy and to the region. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University which is now maintained by Shanghai Ranking Consultants, has been ranking world Universities since 2003, making it the earliest ranking system (Wikipedia, 2013). According to this system, the criteria for ranking world Universities are numerous and based on indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in top academic journals such as Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution. MUK measures very dismally globally on all these!
There are other Universities ranking systems such as the QS Ranking Systems etc. The point here is that University lecturers are not supposed to be rearing goats or participating in some shoddy business transactions and investing time on schemes as SACCOs to earn a descent living. Those are enterprises for the ordinary people and peasants. This is a total misunderstanding of the role of Professors and teachers in Uganda. Professors are supposed to profess, or produce knowledge precisely through research undertakings and other innovative ways and to convey the knowledge universally. I need not recite Socrates’ dialectics in the Republic or Aristotle’s teleology to reinforce the issue of specialization here. There is merit in the argument that University teaching jobs should be one of the most lucrative in terms of remunerations and the agitation for 100% pay rise is appropriate. This extends to all teachers and civil servants; they should not be impoverished and under paid or distracted with callous schemes like SACCOS for offering their services to the nation!
MUK as vehicle for civilization
There are fundamental contradictions in our public realms in regards to the product of Makerere University. I regret that it was not possible for me to illustrate statistically the academic achievements of Makerere University in the last five years alone in regards to publication in major journals, inventions, works cited, conference presentations, alumni field awards and recognition, and list of alumni contributing to global civilization. However, it is a general perspective that Makerere University graduates have been declining in quality, thus the increasing mediocrity in our society. They still take university education as qualification for job, not an empowering experience; most of them lack in innovation and therefore participate less in the economy in trades and commerce in the manner the uneducated are doing; they are not in research nor are inspiring innovation anywhere. Where are they? Most of them are job searching with NGOs that they have not created; some are outright jobless and drunkards in villages, while majority have fled the country. How do we explain these?
The answer to these paradoxes are embedded in this strike and the closure of the university. University teaching staff must be accorded the maximum environment to concentrate without any hindrances to the furtherance of the intellect of the students who enroll at Universities. Because of the lack of concentration, professors have been indulging in exchanging marks for sex, extortion, spending little time on students’ supervision for small extra businesses in Kikuubo or up-country and; splitting time between teaching and other consulting jobs. These must stop!
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