While a tuition fee increment for higher education – the first in 10 years – may be the most viable way to address immediate financial woes facing universities in Uganda, it is not a sustainable way to address higher education funding gaps, say academics.

At Uganda’s oldest public university, Makerere University, tuition will increase by 15% for all undergraduate programmes with effect from August 2018 for the next academic year. Five other public universities are expected to follow suit, which include Busitema, Gulu, Kyambogo and Muni universities and Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

The minimum annual fees for undergraduate students will be UGX5 million (US$1,340), up from UGX2.69 million (US$720), the government has announced. This will bring the institution closer to meeting the unit cost per student. The increment will not affect continuing students or government-sponsored students.

Student fees are a major source of income for Ugandan universities and studies show they constitute at least 60% of annual institutional budgets. 

The Ugandan government contributes only 0.3% of gross domestic product to higher education, compared to the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments which each contribute 1%. Fees paid in most Ugandan higher education institutions are lower than unit costs, as students pay only 40% of the annual cost of their programmes.

Improving quality

The recently-announced increase is seen as a way to improve the quality of higher education and will put tuition fees in Uganda’s universities on par with others in the region. In the case of Makerere, it follows recommendations from the university council and the student body, as well as consultation and benchmarking exercises against the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

“Benchmarking is helpful especially within the East African Community (EAC) and the African region. The fees need to be raised to a level where they meet the unit cost per student, either subsidised by government or paid fully by the students,” Professor Francis Omaswa, the executive director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST), told University World News. 

Omaswa led the task team that produced what is now referred to as the ‘Omaswa report’ which recommended, inter alia, that university tuition fees for private students at Makerere be doubled for the effective running of the university. 

In his report the fees structure is discussed at length as it is one of the most important causes of the universities’ cash-flow problems. 

State Minister for Higher Education Dr Chrysestom Muyingo has defended the 15% fee increase, arguing that education in Uganda is cheaper than in other countries in the region. 

Professor A B K Kasozi, former executive director of Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education, has argued that the real cost of teaching a student in most Ugandan institutions of higher learning is far higher than the fees paid.

“Higher education institutions should charge what it costs them to deliver the required products. Stopping higher education institutions from setting appropriate fees is like asking a manufacturer to sell products below production costs … If we cannot ask other producers to sell products below production levels, why should we ask universities to do so?” said Kasozi.

Market value

“Uganda should extend the liberalised market policy to universities. The market should be allowed to determine fees in higher education institutions so that administrators can sell their products at cost or with a little profit to invest in facilities and infrastructure,” said Kasozi.

According to Kasozi, unlike universities, high schools charge fees at market value without undue pressure from parents, the public or the political system. For instance, most good high schools charge between UGX800,000 (US$215) to UGX1,500,000 (US$400) per term, or about UGX2,400,000 (US$640) to UGX4,500,000 (US$1,200) per year. 

Current university tuition fees are between UGX700,000 (US$190) and UGX2,000,000 (US$540) per semester. 

Parliamentarians have questioned the fact that the increase will only affect private students and have criticised government’s failure to contribute sufficiently to higher education.

“Time and again, Makerere is being run by the private students, and the government subvention has remained static,” Anna Adeke, the national Female Youth member of parliament said. 

“We have to exercise equity between private and government students. Makerere is still a public institution of higher learning. Why must private students shoulder the entire burden?” she said.

Rural areas

Universities in rural areas are also in a difficult position when it comes to raising fees. For example, Busitema University, a public university which has some of the lowest fees in the country, is unable to raise its fees or benchmark itself against any other university in the region. 

“The fees are always set on the lower side because of the location of our campuses. This means Busitema cannot develop infrastructure at the same pace as universities in urban areas and it needs more incentives to keep a professor there,” said Professor Paul Waako, dean of the faculty of health sciences at the university.

Waako said government needs to increase funding for higher education and fees should be set at the point at which they meet the unit cost per student. 

“Fee increments are not sustainable interventions for addressing the funding gaps in universities. There is need for government intervention by increasing funding to higher education using various models and the closure of universities that are not offering relevant programmes,” Waako said.

“There is need for the department of higher education to think carefully about a higher education funding policy which will promote sustainable growth of universities in all parts of the country.”