A Student Loan Scheme in Uganda
THE FEASIBILITY OF A STUDENT LOAN SCHEME AT MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
TARGET GROUP: PRIVATELY SPONSORED STUDENTS WOTHOUT RESOURCES TO FINANCE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.
POSSIBLE PROJECT SUPERVISOR: BANK OF UGANDA.
POSSIBLE SOURCE OF FUNDING: WORLD BANK (IDA) LOAN TO GOVERNMENT.
DOCUMENT BY: WILLY KITUUKA.
CHAIRMAN – MAKERERE UNIVERSITY PRIVATE – STUDENTS’ PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION (MUPRISPA).
P. O BOX 2678, KAMPALA – UGANDA.
1 BACKGROUND
A Student Loan Scheme and Credit Finance Fund is overdue at Makerere University.
1.1
The students who take on payment of the fees get a lot of problems in
the course of their stay, and statistics which may be cross-checked at
the Academic Registrar’s office clearly show that students keep dropping
off semesters after semester as the going gets tougher with meeting the
tuition fees. Currently, its only when a student is fully paid that
he/she is secure of doing the set examinations for a given semester, and
short of this there is almost no short cut but to forget about his/her
studies.
1.2 The University Tuition fees are Independent of
accommodation costs, and other living expenses, such that if a student
is required to pay Shs.500,000 Five hundred thousand shillings only for a
semester, he/she may have to raise not less than Shs.250,000 for
accommodation for a given semester in addition to other living expenses.
1.3
Therefore, in helping the students with the Tuition fees, there is
equally a substantial amount of money that the student has to raise to
sustain through the semester.
1.4 In the same vain, if a Student
Loan Scheme is to be successfully launched, the recovery of the Loan
funds must be thought. Since students are expected to start payment on
getting employment, it becomes extremely important to figure out the
feasibility of recovering the loaned out funds.
1.5 It is against
the above background that a Curriculum Review at the University is of
utmost importance. Among the aspects that should incorporated are
Marketing theory, Feasibility Studies, Proposal writing and Credit
Management not forgetting course content relevancy to the job market in
general.
1.6 With the above incorporated in each course content,
there are chances that students on graduation will be able to submit
project proposals which may be funded for own or group job creation.
This arrangement can make it a guarantee that each student on graduation
has some employment out of which he/she is capable of making payment
for the tuition in instalments and meeting the servicing of the credit
advanced.
1.7 In reference to her article “Here is why the quota
System cannot work,” which appeared in the New Vision, Monday, September
6, 1999 - Dr. Joy C. Kwesiga - Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Makerere
University wrote:
“The large numbers of unemployed social scientists
is more a function of an irrelevant and unstimulating system of
education. Elsewhere, Humanities graduates become millionaires through
innovative ventures in modern technology, the Internet, International
Trade, Small Scale Industries name it. They are assisted by an
education system that opens up their minds to many possibilities,
including making it on their own, rather than directing them to narrowly
defined specialisation. By providing basic tools, higher education
becomes the firm foundation, not the end of the road.”
1.8 “A
national culture of self development should form part of our educational
content, and replace lamentations about unemployment. The state should
widen options for students to utilise their talents beyond the current
channel that steers them to rigidly demarcated curricula. Experiences
such as that of late Dr. Samson Kisekka who took correspondence courses
in business management concurrently with his medical training provide
relevant lessons.” Dr. Kwesiga further wrote that student loans are
long overdue. Caution mainly lies in creating the appropriate
structures for recovery of funds. Without loans, government adds more
to those who have.
1.9 “Makerere today is a production line that
Churns out identical graduates by the cartons,” said a Lecturer in the
Faculty of Social Sciences. “With so many people to teach and so little
time, we sometimes do not give as much as we would like to give.”
1.10
A private student at Makerere University who pays an average of
Shs.600,000 as tuition, and Shs.250,000 on accommodation in a hostel,
spends about Shs.1,250,000 every semester. Given that there are 6
semesters in a 3 year course, this translates to about Shs.7,500,000 at
the end of the course.
1.11 “Ironically, however, the success of
the Private Sponsorship Scheme has kicked off an exodus into the
Diaspora. Today more students after their A level are packing to
countries like India, Britain, the U.S., name them. It has become very
expensive at Makerere University, yet the standard of Education is going
down hill. It is quite cheap to study in India that is why 300-400
students go to India a year and are able to do courses of their choice
and many are quite marketable and practical.
1.12 In his election
manifesto 2001 “Consolidating the Achievements of the Movement”,
President Yoweri Museveni said, “When Makerere University introduced
Private Sponsorship, intake increased from an annual 2,000 Government
Sponsored Students to 14,000 students in the year 2000, out of which
12,000 are private students. Through this scheme, Makerere generated
Shs.12.5 billion in 1999/2000 Financial year and was expected to
generate Shs.16 billion in the year 2000/2001. The funds generated by
Makerere outside the Government budget have made it possible for the
University to increase the pay to the lecturers and other workers and to
construct new buildings. The challenge facing Makerere University now
is to ensure quality education and to dedicate more resources to
research.” The President further said, ‘My Government will establish an
Educational Loan Scheme to increase access to higher education.’
1.13
The Makerere System of admission leaves out many brilliant candidates
who can not afford to pay the millions of fees under the private
sponsorship scheme who become “drop-outs.”
1.14 “The Makerere
Scenario shows that there is greater need to reform than ever before,”
say Prof. Senteza Kajubi, Vice Chancellor, Nkumba University.
“Government
should now borrow money to lend to the poor students who cannot afford
to pay the exorbitant fees at the University” said Kajubi. Kajubi’s
remarks are in line with the recommendations of the 1992 Government
White Paper. The paper based on the education policy review commission
report recommends that Government establishes a system of study loans to
students who are unable to raise the necessary finances for University
education. Such loans, say the paper, have to be interest free and
payable when a student completes his or her studies and finds gainful
employment.
1.15 Efficiency at Makerere University has increased
and financial dependency on the state reduced with enrolment more than
doubled from 9,369 in 1995/96 to 20,368 in 1999/2000. The proportion of
private sponsored students at Makerere has also increased to over 70%
in 1999/2000. While public spending on education more than doubled
between 1995 and 2000, the allocation to Makerere University increased
only by 7%
Source Uganda Poverty reduction
Strategy paper Progress Report 2001.
1.16
Makerere has moved from a situation where noneof its students paid fees
to one where more than 70% do. Where the Government previously covered
all running costs, now more than 30% of revenue is internally
generated. The most important impact of increased institutional income
has been on staff salary structures and incentive schemes. Professors
can now earn over US $1,300 per month with the possibility of added
supplementation on an hourly basis from evening classes.
Source Higher Education in Developing Countries - Peril and Promise. A world Bank publication.
1.17 Clearly, cost sharing cannot be implemented equitably without a
functioning student loan program to make funds available to all students
who wish to borrow for their education and without scholarship programs
that guarantee necessary financial support to academically qualified
poor students unable to absorb the direct and indirect (foregone
earnings) costs of higher education. However, sustainable loan programs
require an effective collection agency, with incentives to minimise
evasion and default.
Source: Higher Education - The Lessons of Experience. A world bank
Publication.
1.18 Restructuring at Makerere has had three key interrelated thrusts:
- Implementing alternative financing strategies,
- Introducing demand - driven courses,
- Installing new management structures.
Inside
the University the most significant effects of these measures have been
the diversification of income sources, the more complete utilization of
facilities; managerial devolution and greater autonomy from Government.
Outside, the main result has been to facilitate efforts of Government
to re-allocate the educational budget between different levels of the
system.
1.19 The first step towards privatisation occurred when
the Institute of Adult and Continuing Education inaugurated a
self-sponsored external degree program in 1992. The Faculties of Law
and Commerce initiated Privately Sponsored Evening courses the following
year. In 1994, the University Council accepted the principle that
faculties with places remaining after the prescribed government intake
could fill them with private students. One year later Evening courses
were sanctioned for all faculties. Within three years privately
sponsored students exceeded the number supported by Government.
The
revenue from private students sources rose from 4 to 10 billion
shillings in the period 1995/96 to 1998/99. It is however likely that
the long term financial future of Makerere will depend upon the
development of a major student loan scheme which will require a high
level of political commitment and managerial finesse and may be the next
great educational challenge for the country.
Source: Financing Higher Education in Africa: Makerere, the Quiet Revolution. David Court - A world Bank Publication .
1.20
Professor Michael Lejeune, of Uganda Martyrs University warns that, “as
long as some members of the society are excluded on the grounds of
their low income, low social class, etc., there exists a basic problem
in our approach to higher education.”
1.21 Dr. Ahmad Kawesa
Sengendo of the Islamic University notes that students from the poorer,
northern part of the country are already under represented among the
self sponsored students at Makerere.
Ref.: the Courier no. 173 - January - February 1999
“University Education in Uganda.
“Quality despite adversity”
By Amin. Kassam.
2. HOW WOULD A LOAN SCHEME WORK?
There
are two aspects incorporated in the Student Loan Scheme. The first is a
membership/subscription fee for one to be enrolled with the scheme.
This fee should be payable once, say Shs.100,000 during the students’
stay at the University. The second component of the scheme could be say
a 5% commitment fee on the Semester fees, payable every semester.
3. WHY MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION AND COMMITMENT FEES?
(i) It is possible that some students may default in making payments after they have graduated or could abscond.
(ii) Some students may die before they have fully paid the loan granted.
(iii) Out of the money got interest payments may easily be met to the creditor.
(iv)
The payment may greatly contribute over time to the building up of a
local fund out of which future loans would be met and sustained.
(v)
This arrangement would make it unnecessary getting involved in
bureaucratic calculations of interest on funds advanced to individual
students, such that they would only be required to meet the principal
sums.
(vi) This practice would discourage those that can have
funds for financing the fees as they would see it as an expense which
may not be called for. So one would take on the scheme after a second
thought.
(vii) The fees would help in meeting the administration costs of the scheme.
(viii) The fees would ensure and guarantee that the periodical payments to the creditor are met and much so on time.
4. WHERE WOULD THE COMMITMENT FEES AND SUBSCRIPTION/ MEMBERSHIP FEE BE PUT?
The
major purpose of the subscription/membership fee and commitment fees is
to create more value. In the current Uganda setting the most secure
area to have these funds is in Bank of Uganda as Treasury Bills. Over a
period of time this would accumulate a lot of money which would help in
sorting any possible short comings in loans advanced to the students.
5. RATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS AND RECOVERY MODALITIES OF THE LOAN SCHEME FUNDS
There are a number of assumptions before the funds are advanced to the student:-
(i)
That the student would probably not be able to meet the cost of
his/her education without the facilitation in form of loan scheme.
(ii)
Secondly that the student on graduation would be able to get
employment or create his/her own given the facilitation in form of
credit to own/group project.
(iii) It is assumed that a student
will take on a given course after being properly advised of the
prospects ahead in the job market.
(iv) It is assumed that the
student will co-operate on realising the great assistance given to
him/her to do his higher studies, and will act rationally to ensure
repayment.
• Against the above assumptions, it may be required
to have two guarantors who at any given moment in time may be in the
know of the whereabouts of the beneficiary.
• Secondly, there would
be stipulated procedures and formalities before granting/releasing the
academic transcript and degree certificate to the graduates.
• Third, the Parents’ Association may have to help students in identifying employment opportunities locally and internationally.
•
Those with prospect employment outside the country would equally be
facilitated to take on the prospects through meeting the cost of the air
ticket and also given some pocket money.
• The Association would get
involved in implementation of projects and proposals that would end up
providing viable employment prospects for some of the students on
graduation.
• There would be emphasis on morals and good behaviour in
general like safe guarding against unsafe sex for the sake of keeping
free of HIV as this would increase the chances of default if the
beneficiary falls sick and eventually dies.
6. WHY THE SCHEMES IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
Practical
experience at Makerere University is such that majority of the students
who are Government sponsored are those from the well to do families.
These are families where a child has had education from a good primary
school through to the secondary and because of the good education
background these students end up with better passes and this scenario
leaves no opportunity for those from poorer family backgrounds to be
taken under the Government Sponsorship Scheme. In a nutshell, the Loan
Scheme is a necessary development for keeping a balance in the economy
so that the students from the poorer families are also catered for. So
far, many of the students who don’t excel at their A’ level exams have
proven to perform excellently at the University.
Secondly, there
is general poverty in the economy where a good number of the parents who
sponsor their children part with value, for example selling of assets
like land. Much of these assets would be put to better use and
development instead of being sold off which leaves families poorer.
A
student in a Loan Scheme arrangement would study with certainly that
he/she will complete his/her studies. Unlike the situation today when a
number try and fall by the way side.
Also the students who
qualify for admission but fail to raise the funds will have chance to do
their university studies without a big hurdle.
The Scheme will
also give the students a chance to be more focused on some job prospect
so that when they complete their studies they have the drive to recover
the funds.
The students are therefore likely to be more serious
not only with academics but also to realise value after school when the
Loan Scheme is implemented.
• There is a general observation that
the big costs the students have to meet during their stay at the
university force some of them to get involved in prostitution, both the
girls and the boys. It is believed that when the going gets tough some
of these people get to sort the problems through this window. Chances
are that with some sure funding through a Loan Scheme those involved in
these acts would stop being involved in prostitution related acts.
N.B.
Regarding the Credit Management for the Project Proposals by
graduates, the Scheme can learn from the Inter American Development Bank
- Micro enterprise Unit in the Sustainable Development Department.
The chief of this Unit is Marguerite Berger.
Ref.: the Courier - a magazine of ACP - EU development Co-operation April/May 2000 issue page 13-16.
7. PROSPECTS FOR LOANED STUDENTS
7.1 One possible area that could be seriously explored is the refining of our
medicinal
plants. The country spends a lot of money on imported drugs. I
believe some graduates can be incorporated into drug manufacture using
the knowledge of science they would have got and basic equipment. This
can be supported by increasing acreage of the area planted with
medicinal plants for future mass production. World trade in sale of
drugs based on traditional medicines amounts to over US $32 billion a
year.
7.2 A group of agricultural graduates and veterinary doctors can be facilitated
to
open a farm where modern equipment can be used. These people may
contribute substantially to increased food production at a lower price.
7.3 A strategy that can identify some foreign companies that can process some
of
their parts in Uganda by using cheap labour from our University may
also greatly contribute to increased employment prospects. This is done
in other countries where the production process of components has been
decentralised to different countries taking advantage of comparative
advantages and a boost to the economic activity for the hosting country.
7.4 Graduates can take on a project to boost the food resources (grains) for the
World
Food Programme Office being established in Uganda. If these graduates
are availed land and tractors, using their knowledge I don’t think they
can go wrong.
7.5 Using the country’s comparative advantage in agricultural production, I
can
envisage good partnership with establishments that do agro-processing
which could open shop in Uganda or even import these agricultural
products for final processing in their own countries. Uganda can have
good value if the market is studied well and economies of production are
taken advantage of.
7.6 There is need to increase the capacity and variety at the University
Computer Institute so that it can train the various expertise needed in the
computer
industry world wide. This innovation if backed up by some Indian
computer expertise can earn the Ugandan students job opportunities
outside the country’s borders, and sure employment in the computer
firms.
7.7. The students need to be encouraged to start working in group
arrangements. With groups like for Auditing and Accounting, graduates
can take on Accounting work for many decentralised districts where book
keeping
is a big problem which may not be sorted in a short while as politics
in the districts and other local Governments rules over academic
credentials hence giving people who are merely popular but at times
without relevant skills responsible administration positions. This
calls for the back up of technical know how.
7.8 The Consultancies ideology if encouraged at University level can
encourage students to get involved in the drawing of various programmes
for
the districts in different needy areas. For example Government has a
lot of funds to be sunk into the Districts in form of Poverty Action
Fund, however, in the districts on ground the technical ability in
lacking. Graduates can come in to bridge the gap by identifying the
needy areas, undertaking the necessary studies and producing the reports
which they could help to supervise at implementation.
7.9 It has been observed in the medical circles that many children are not put
on proper diet which makes them prone to opportunistic infections some
of
which call for vitamin rich drugs. The graduates in the field of
medicine and agriculture can come up with a joint arrangement which may
be decentralised to the district and sub-county levels to help on
community awareness campaign to address the diet problems. This could
help to reduce the mortality levels. Properly written out proposals in
line with dealing with diet should get funding as a priority and this
way the graduates involved would be employed.
7.10 The students who have done social work and social administration plus
some
Agriculturalists, Artisans can join hands and come up with a project to
manage street children. These children can be rehabilitated from a
friendly environment, then they can be taught a number of life skills
including agriculture, English language, moral issues, carpentary and
woodwork skills, sewing for the girls, design work name it. A properly
written out proposal in this line should be generously funded, and
employment would be enhanced.
7.11 High quality education schools are booming business. A case in point is
Vienna
College one of the most expensive secondary schools which attracts
children of the well to do some of whom come from abroad. A group of
Education Students should be able to establish similar establishments
for primary, secondary, and vocational training. What is needed is a
climate which can encourage the University students to brain storm about
how they can go about the whole business and once funding is identified
projects of the nature are in the right direction.
7.12 In Uganda today experience is that funds channelled to a privately run
project or programme stand a high degree of benefiting the beneficiaries
of the project/programme. Against this background, the University can
take
the initiative to encourage students into self/or group employment, and
have such efforts backed directly by potential donors. It is believed
that students would do all that is possible to harness this opportunity
given the harsh experiences of moving up and down the streets in an
effort to look for employment prospects.
7.13 Human Rights are a priority area that needs to be exploited. There is need
to
look at the possible funding for programmes that may be locally
implemented and others on a regional level. If funding is identified,
students who have offered Human Rights Studies may design programmes
which when funded may contribute to the local and regional improvement
of the Human Rights and hence stability in the region.
7.14 HIV/AIDS Pandemic has brought into existence a new problem. The
elderly
used to get the care of their children up to when they would breath
their last. Today, as the HIV/AIDS pandemic targets those in their
youthful years most, the elderly find themselves left to care for the
orphaned children and the future of the children is not certain yet the
elderly are strained. I envisage a project country wide in support of
the elderly headed households, sustaining them and the grand children as
in the right direction.
7.15 One reason why there is a big unemployment problem in Uganda is partly
because
the students are not properly guided and counselled in career
prospects. Career Guidance and Counselling services are badly lacking.
Graduates if funded could undertake valuable studies as regards finding
out the needy areas and the skills and this information when got could
be fed to the Ministry of Planning for proper guidance and funding for
the needy areas.
Secondly, organised guidance and counselling
personnel can be able to charge a fee for services rendered as
professionals to schools and institutions of High learning which badly
need these services. Third, this category of people could help the
compilation of a national data bank for manpower showing the
availability of skills and advice may be given where retraining may be a
valuable undertaking. With the above undertaking properly funded
chances are that there may evolve an education system with deliberate
planning to relate education to the job market. And in the final
analysis the education sector should be able to work with the economic
sector to ensure that courses offered in schools and colleges relate to
the job market.
7.16 There is need to get to access as much information as possible from all
possible
sources. For example recently there were proposals called for from
individuals and private entities to the “Development Market Place” which
offer expired on 1st May 2001, but to which any capable person would
participate and the chances for funding to the tune of say US $50,000,
100,000 up to 250,000 were there but many were not informed!!
Currently there is the World Bank’s Boost to Uganda’s HIV/AIDS Control
Channelled through Uganda AIDS Commission where individuals or
groups could for example submit proposals under the community led HIV/AIDS initiative where US $10 million is available.
Shortly,
there shall be the UNDP support to small and micro entrepreneurs.
There is no reason why students cannot take up the challenge.
There
is the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of United Nations Development
Programme which is still on and some of the potential applicants to this
facility could be the university graduates. This can be “entandikwa”
to see one off ground.
7.17 The tourism business in Uganda has been hit by insecurity, however,
reliable
information has it that in the 21st Century, tourism will be the
largest Industry - according to the World Travel and Tourism Council in
1999, the sector was projected to generate directly and indirectly 11.7%
of World GDP and provide nearly 200 million jobs and the latter figure
was forecast to rise by more than five millions jobs a year over the
next decade. The points to note here are two, one that if all possible
is done to advertise the tourist attractions locally and also improve on
the security for the tourists - the country should reap big revenues
from this sector and any strategies done to see how the revenues can be
realised are in the right direction.
Second, given that the
prospects are not good for locally employing the Tourism based manpower,
it remains important to ensure that the training
locally of Tourist
based manpower is up to international standards which would make our
graduates competitive in the global market for tourism based trained
manpower.
We can learn from Madagascar’s Experiences: A Decade of Reform and Innovation in Higher Education.
Ref. Findings - A World Bank Publication on Human Development.
No. 159 - May 2000.
E.mail: Dviens@worldbank.org
(Daniel Viens & James Lynch - Prepared the article).
7.18 Necessity is the mother of invention. Today there is the Bank of Uganda
Export
Credit Guarantee Facility. One reason why this facility came into
existence was to boost the export earnings of Uganda. The graduates
therefore need to organise themselves into company arrangements and from
the information on the Internet or otherwise may identify a good or
service that they can export. If the buyer and the seller are in line
then the flow should be facilitated.
The problem with the Export
Credit Guarantee Facility is like that of other Credits under Bank of
Uganda, in that the Bank’s inability to administer the funds and leaving
it to the discretion of commercial banks makes the project funds
unaccessible to many prospects clients otherwise this is one fertile
ground that could be exploited by graduates organised in serious groups
to overcome unemployment problems.
7.19 Much as the Government of Uganda may spend a lot of resources through
the Local Government decentralisation, the picture so far is that the
benefits
expected are not really earned by the communities to the extent that
much of the social infrastructure like the roads are not repaired.
Dispensaries lack drugs and a lot of otherwise well designed programmes
don’t deliver to the poor they are meant to.
Part of the
problem is that politics overrules accountability. Many of the LC
leaders are secure as long as they sing praises to Government and
ensuring its grip on power. This is done at the expense of service
delivery. There are many wrong priorities and the corruption plus the
embezzlement of funds. For example in some sub counties the
agricultural officers even if they make budgets for their programmes the
LC Councillors being political heads have the final say. So what is
happening is that many of the technical people at the districts and
below are at the mercy of the politicians who have the touch with the
financial resources and decision making.
Because of this
frustration the officers who would perform end up redundant and under
funded and they look on as their programmes gather dust. If this
situation is not addressed, that is, the amorphous Local Council
Infrastructure, a lot of useful resources for development are going to
go down the drain.
A model to check this where an alternative approach is developed like a
situation
where programmes made are copied to the line ministries and follow up
methods developed is a situation that may call for an input by
University graduates to study the situation on ground and help to
formulate an alternative approach which would be acceptable by the
system of the local council but accountable to the tax payer who
currently loses a lot of resources at the hands of the opportunistic
few. Decentralisation to-date in Uganda can be characterised as
corrupt, lacking in transparency and accountability, inadequate service
delivery and social exclusion all of which in totality divert resources
from the poor, needy and powerless to the rich, replete and dominant. A
study to reverse this trend is in the right direction.
Ref.:
Promoting Good Governance with Social Funds and Decentralisation, from
Findings: A World Bank Publication on economic Management & Social
Policy Human Development - No. 181 April 2001. Article from PREM Notes
No.51, January 2001 - By Andrew Parker (Senior Learning Specialist,
Office of Vice President, PREM Network.)
7.20 It is a fact that there are firms outside Uganda which are interested in
getting
business partners in Uganda. This is an area which can be exploited by
the University graduates. They may among other things have to identify
the needs of some potential investors into the country. And if
organised these graduates can attract joint partners if they can provide
the necessary information to the potential investors, and somehow this
can improve on the employment prospects.
Ref: Findings - No. 169
- October 2000 “African Firms: Learning and productivity Improvement:
Article by Tyler Biggs, Senior Economist, Africa region. For
information contact E.mail: mmbuyi@worldbank.org
7.21 The graduates may need to do a bit of more homework to see the role they
can
play in the promotion of information Technology. This is in the right
direction mostly so where we have most of our business community
literate and semi-literate and harnessing the potential of the global
market calls for being Information Technology complaint mostly in
electronic - Commerce. Projects developed to get the economic players
appreciate modern technology as may be designed by the graduates are in
the right direction for the country’s economic development.
7.22 University graduates could also be involved in new designs of poverty
alleviation
models. An example of these is the Mauritius “A Nou Diboute Ensam
(Let’s all stand together) launched with European Union Funding - in
November 1999. The strategy proposed for the Micro projects programme
was “holistic, multi-sectoral and community based using participatory
methods both for problem solving and for multi-Project design and
monitoring.
Reference to the Mauritius model and borrowing from its successes could
greatly
help Uganda in its poverty alleviation programmes and the input of
graduates here may go a step in helping the country’s development
efforts.
Ref: the Courier Issue 180 April/May 2000 “A Nou Diboute Ensam” Page 88 & 89.
7.23 Our graduates in Agro forestry can exploit the wealth of knowledge
generated
by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and
design projects that may benefit localities throughout the country.
Many of the agroforestry trees are resourceful in Energy provision,
food, medicine, fruits, timber, cloth industry, fodder, dye, habitant
for bees, name it, all of which can be the basis of designing local
industries and hence economic empowerment of the population.
7.24 Makerere Graduates can also venture into the field of producing
professional
sportsmen. It is common knowledge that some Ugandans have become
international sportsmen simply by coming through simple sporting while
at school and eventually their talent has been identified and a number
have joined International teams as professionals.
The trick is
simple. A group of graduates interested in sporting may come up with a
proposal to see that they train sportsmen for both local and
international teams.
On identifying the talent these sportsmen
would be brought together for continuous serious training and meanwhile
the market prospects for interested teams locally and international
would be identified. There can be very good revenue from this source
more so if the pioneers’ are reflected on some website for world wide
publicity.
7.25 There are just too many Ugandans who are in need of some form of
employment
whether skilled or not. One virgin area that may need to be exploited
is the potential of “Exporting manpower” both skilled and unskilled.
This
could require first having a local data bank for the various classes of
manpower available with their qualification and experience and then the
shopping around world wide to try and identify areas in need of
manpower.
One crucial role those venturing into this area may have to
play is that of ensuring that their manpower is multi-lingual so as to
be able to communicate in different environments. It is for example
common knowledge that German has been encouraging Information Technology
personnel and giving them Green cards. It is also likely that both
skilled and unskilled labour will be required there given the situation
on ground.
7.26 Uganda graduates could also be helped to explore the Cinema/Film
Industry.
World wide there are experiences that could be incorporated in our
local art and have this marketed Internationally. How to exploit this
potential remains unclear. There is need to adapt, innovate and also
learn that ways of the market place - when these are properly
internalised in the film industry, there should be good money generated.
Ref. “Cinema” the Courier No. 185 March - April 2001 - page 45 - 62.
7.27 There can also be money and employment prospects for manpower with
some
technical know how in the development of appropriate technologies for
our use. This can learn from experiences elsewhere to modify on
irrigation systems, technologies that can help in semi-processing of
agricultural produce like the removal of husks from groundnuts, the
getting of grains off the cob and many other designs say in brick making
and the technology innovations that can save on energy.
N.B. Additional Lessons: Findings No. 122 of November 1998 - “Lessons
from Africa’s Social Funds and Public Works & Employment projects. E.mail: Lfrigenti@worldbank.org
8. LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM LOAN FUNDED
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ELSEWHERE
8.1
If Makerere University implements its own model for a Students Loan
Scheme which should be backed by a Credit Facility to help individual or
group efforts in own employment, it is important to learn from
experiences of Loan Schemes elsewhere.
8.2 One area which can be a good starting point for Makerere University is the Kenya Universities experience.
This
is under The Universities Investment Project (UIP) which was conceived
in 1990 as an Investment -Oriented Complement to the Education Sector
Adjustment Credit (EDSAC).
8.3 The Higher Education Loans Board
(HELB) was created in 1995 by an Act of Parliament, which grants
enhanced legal powers for recovery of student loans. HELB administers
bursaries in addition to means-tested loans. HELB has successfully
computerised loan processing and loan recovery functions, becoming much
more efficient than the former student Loan scheme Unit of the Ministry
of Education. HELB recognises that it needs to develop a medium - to
long term financial strategy to respond to expected increases in need
for financial aid students.
8.4 In 1995, it was announced that
student loan eligibility would no longer be automatic, with
means-testing introduced, and that food and accommodation would be
charged at cost.
8.5 Lessons learned from the Kenya Universities model are:-
1)
Project design should provide for an appropriate balance between
decentralization of responsibilities to Universities, and Central
co-ordination;
2) Lending operations in support of a small
number of Universities which are self-accounting organisations should
investigate at appraisal the structure of revenues and expenditures of
the beneficiary Institutions;
3) If a project has an objective of educational quality improvement, there should be indicators to monitor this.
Ref. World Bank report No. 19976, Kenya Universities Investment Project: Implementation Completion Report:
More Information: Email: Bjones@worldbank.org.
For us we are left out
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