Funding policies and management of higher education in a developing economy: A case study of public universities in Uganda

Abstract

The study investigated the funding policies and their consequences on the management of public universities and quality of Higher Education in a developing economy. This was achieved by studying four Ugandan Public Universities as a case study. The study used three objectives viz; to establish the funding policies for Higher Education in Uganda, to investigate the consequences of the funding policies on the management of public universities in Uganda and to examine the consequences of the funding policies on the quality of Higher Education. The study was guided by a cross sectional design using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Questionnaires were used for quantitative data and interview guides with a blend of observation for qualitative data. Documentary analyses through library and internet search were also used to enrich the study. The cross-sectional correlation approaches were used to analyse data. The Pearson and Spearman’s correlation techniques were used to test the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study found out that the current funding policy for higher education in Uganda is diversified sources of finance, combining public and private portfolios. The study concluded that the diversified sources of funding policy has led to large increase in the volume of funds and intake, but quality has continued to drop. The study recommends that; (i) Government supports the disadvantaged groups of students by providing study grants under cost recovery programmes, (ii) Public Universities transform their management structures to accommodate the new character of stakeholders, (iii) Public Universities set up rules and regulations to govern internally generated funds and government to empower NCHE to oversee public universities activity. For further study, the study recommends; (i) Quality assurance in a differentiated Higher Education System, (ii) Forms of partnership in the provision of Higher Education, (iii) Entrepreneurship and management of Higher Education and (iv) Commercialization versus equity in management of Higher Education.