Financial policies and perceived quality of higher education among Makerere University students.

Abstract

This study was conducted under the title “Financing Policies and Perceived Quality of Higher Education among Makerere University Students” at the College of Education and External Studies and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The study was guided by three specific objectives; to examine the relationship between private tuition financing policies and the quality of higher education; to establish the relationship between government financing policies and the quality of higher education and to find out the relationship between donor financing policies and the quality of higher education. The study used a cross sectional design with both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Data was obtained from a population of students and administrative staff who all numbered to 390 respondents. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for social scientists (SPSS) to generate frequencies, percentages and tables while Pearson correlation co-efficient was used to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The study found out that private tuition financing policies, government financing policies and donor financing policies have influenced the quality of higher education at Makerere University positively. The study concluded that the significance values of private tuition financing policies, government financing policies and donor financing policies were less than the alpha value 0.05 implying that good private tuition financing policies, good government financing policies and good donor financing policies positively influence quality of higher education. The study recommends that the University must aggressively diversify sources of income by adopting funding models based on autonomy and accountability. The model involves multiple sources including government, education insurance, a national education lottery, endowments, a national loan scheme, fees, scholarships, and income-generating activities to improve the delivery of education services.