Abstract:

The economic crisis that hit Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s hit Makerere University in several ways: crippling under-funding, low staff pay and lack of morale, centralised management of scarce funds, deteriorating buildings and other physical facilities, shortage of equipment, chemicals and text books, cut-throat competition for the few inelastic university places and pressure for expansion despite shrinking financial resources.  The university responded by privatising some places in normal regular programmes.  It also decentralised some powers so that the responsibility for generating funds was shared by all members of staff. 

This study attempts to compare the performance of BA graduates (representing the humanities) to that of BSc graduates (representing all the sciences). If the supply side of the Faculty of Science is still trapped in the vicious circles of under-funding, is there any visible excess demand for scientists in the employment market? Do graduates of the general science courses have a higher probability of securing employment than those of general arts courses? Are there no employment prospects for the Faculty of Arts graduates such that the current expansion is halted until the curriculum is fully transformed? Do graduates of the Faculty of Science earn higher incomes than those of the Faculty of Arts? Do the graduates of the Faculty of Science have a higher absorption rate in the private sector and in self-employment? These are the questions that this study seeks to answer. 

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Mayanja, Muhammad K.; Adebua, Asaf; Kabuye, M.K.; Kaase-Bwanga, E.; Nakayima-Mayega, F. (2001). A comparative study of Makerere University graduates of the faculties of arts and science Makerere University, Uganda.