Introduction

Leadership style refers to the underlying needs of the leader that motivate his behavior (Siskin,
1994).It is the manifestation of the dominant pattern of behavior of a leader (Olaniyan, 1999).It
also refers to a particular behavior used by a leader to inspire his or her subordinates to attain the
aims of the organization (Okumbe, 1998).

Challenges of leadership in an organization like a higher institution of leaning

Inadequate funding is a key challenge affecting higher tertiary/university education. According

to Professor John Ddumba Sentamu (2013), the resources available to higher education in
Uganda and still inadequate to enable them to effectively respond to the rapid expansion in
student enrolment and basic requirement for education and research. As a consequence, the
quality of teaching and research has been affected and staff and students welfare continue to
decline. Attraction and retention of skilled professionals in Uganda continue to be a big
challenge. For instance, Makerere University is currently operating at 45% of its staff
establishment which negatively impacts on the higher tertiary/university education thus a key
challenge affecting higher education sector in Uganda.

Massification of higher education is also a major challenge. The rapid student expansion is a
major challenge to higher education providers. The mismatch between student growth and
facilities is a characteristic of higher education institutions in Uganda. This has resulted into
overcrowded classrooms and insufficiency in the learning environment for instance in Makerere
University some lecture rooms are congested during lecturers tot eh extent that some students
have to stand during lecturers. This is due to the few and limited facilities in terms of rooms and
desks used in lecture rooms hence a challenge affecting tertiary/university institutions. Professor
John Ddumba Ssentamu(2013).

Limited tertiary and university institutions. The higher education sector is made up of tertiary
institutions/university, which together provides immense potential for the development of the
country. In Uganda, however, there has been erosion of tertiary institutions over the years.
Several of them have witnessed decline due to under-funding and some of them have been
transformed into universities. An example is the current Kyambogo University which is an
amalgamation of about 3 tertiary institutions. Conan Businge (2009), adds that Parents are also

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crashing under the weight of the limited universities available. There are 34 universities in the
country today, and only five of them are owned by Government.
Apart from all public universities, which by formation have charters automatically; of the 34
universities in the country, there are only seven of private ones with Charters. These include
Islamic University in Uganda which got its Charter in 1988, Uganda Christian University (1999),
Uganda Martyrs University (1993), Ndejje University (1992), Bugema University (1994),
Nkumba University (1999) and Kampala International University (2001).There are mushrooming
universities in the country. Save for the fact that they are many; they still cannot take only a
small slice of students scampering for higher education in the country. This has definitely denied
the economy the necessary and unique skills generated from these institutions thus a key
challenge affecting the tertiary/university education in my country.

Rising youth employment. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics has indicated that worldwide,
Uganda is the leading country with the youngest population of 78% below the age of 30 years.
Currently 21.3% Ugandans are in the age group of 18-30. Of the students who graduated in
2011, only 33% were able to find employment in the formal sector. This is partly explained by
the small private sector and the failure to match the skills needed in the economy. Thus it is a key
challenge affecting tertiary and university education in Uganda.

Corruption tendencies. The resources of some higher education institutions and universities and
universities have been diversified for personal gain by some staff, this affects the effectiveness of
the institutions interns of service provision to students to support their academics. As the
resources earmarked for specific projects are swindled and mismanaged which results into
project failure. As a consequence, the performance of students and the institutions diminish due
to the inadequacy of facilities such as ICT, On-line libraries, research among others, thus a key
challenge to higher tertiary/university education in Uganda. For instance Kyambogo University
of recent has been in the spotlight over corruption related issues, some staff received money from
students and diverted it to their personal accounts

Low salaries paid to staff is also a key challenge. The salaries paid to the staff in higher
institutions of education in Uganda are still very low compared to those in other countries. Due
this lecturers and tutors tend to dodge lectures since most have other jobs in big institutions and
companies to supplement the meager salaries which cannot cater for their needs. the results of

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this is that syllabus coverage is very low at the end of course which makes students
comprehend less of what they were meant to study in a course in addition to absenteeism by the
lecturers are key challenges affecting the higher tertiary/university education in Uganda. Chacha
NC (2007).

Hiring inadequate staff. According to Conan Businge (2009), most tertiary institutions and
universities in Uganda operate at a deficit staff numbers. This resulted into poor academic
performance on the side of academic staff and poor service delivery to all the stakeholders of
these institutions including the students. For instance, Makerere University is currently operating
at 45% of its staff establishment. In addition the recent reports show that the overall staff to
student ratio for all universities was 1:24 but those of Makerere and Kyambogo both public
universities (1:33) and Nkumba (1:32) were unacceptably high. Meanwhile, although a number
of studies of tertiary unit costs have been done, the government has not come up with an agreed
tertiary unit cost or agreed to recognize any of the known studies of unit costs to inform its
budgetary allocations. This is therefore a challenge to higher tertiary institutions and universities
in Uganda.

Bureaucracy in these institutions. Tendencies of bureaucracies are a major characteristics of the

higher education in Uganda. The result of such a tendency is the difficulty to access the higher
education. For instance, Uganda has a tertiary Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) OF 5.4% which is
the lowest in East Africa region. Students who qualify for higher education cannot all access
admission due to bureaucracies involved in the admission process. Therefore this is a key
impoundment to higher education in the country.

Relevance of higher education. This is basically due to the rampant duplication of courses
especially by illegitimate and illegal institutions. Sarah Bunoti (2001), contends that the nature of
the Ugandan education system raises a concern over the relevance of higher tertiary and
university education. This is due to the fact that, graduates from institutions of higher learning in
Uganda experience both a high rate of unemployment and underemployment due to programs
and courses that are not relevant to the job market. This is basically because higher tertiary
institutions have failed to review programmes, retrain staff, re-equip workshops and laboratories,
and procure new books and other learning materials, thus a key challenge affecting the higher
tertiary and university education in Uganda.

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Insecurity in and around tertiary and universities. Insecurity is another key challenge affecting
higher education in Uganda. Most of these institutions and universities have attracted large
numbers of people who have settled around them. This has resulted in slums due to
overcrowding of people in small pieces of land which act as dens of thugs who attack students.
Insecurity within and outside university is based, with many cases of students killed or injured
especially those who go home after 10:00p.m lectures. Students property is stolen at the
university especially laptops. Often students lose bags with valuables when sitting examinations.

Strikes and demonstrations are also key challenges affecting the higher tertiary and university in
Uganda. According to Patrick Ajuna (2011), the problem of strikes at Makerere university have
dragged on seasonally for long with students protesting against tuition increment or lecturers
over unpaid , pension scheme, demand for salary increment among others. However, most of the
strikes are caused by lecturers welfare related issues. The implication of this is that time wasted
is at times not compensated for especially when the strike has taken one to three weeks as the
university calendar remains unchanged. This would ideally mean that some courses with much
content cannot be well covered hence affecting learning and therefore the quality of graduate.

Administrative challenges. The students complain of bureaucratic tendencies where getting ones
problem attended to is a long and frustrating process. Overcrowded and slow medical services,
consequently students end up in self medication to save time, poor record keeping where some
records of results cannot be found in students re-sitting which is very frustrating coupled with
lack of confidentiality since results are just pinned on the notice boards for the students.

Solutions to the key Challenges affecting the higher tertiary and university education in
Uganda

Liberalization of the provision of higher education. The education space should be opened to
both public and private sector by accreditation of more institutions. This will result into
expansion of higher education from few to many in Uganda in order to address the issue of
limited tertiary institutions. The existing institutions should be improved and liberalized.

Widening global networks and collaborations is important to acquire relevant skills for both
national regional and international market. Professor John Ddumba Ssentamu (2013), suggests
Broadening students learning through international networks and collaborations be done. He

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adds that, Joint degrees should be used as a benchmark for staff and student exposure in order
improve on the quality of graduates and also focus more on imparting practical skills in students
in order to boost their marketability on the national, regional and international level in order to
solve the problem of youth unemployment and underemployment.

Universities and tertiary institutions should design programs in consultations with the private
sector to suit their recruitment and world of work to curb unemployment. In addition programs at
the universities and other tertiary institutions should be continuously reviewed to respond to job
market and attachment of students should be done before any student graduates creation of an
independent financial committee.

Partnership that enhance collaboration and networking in provision of relevant higher education
should be developed. The partnership will ensure that the knowledge generated meets existing
and emerging community development needs. This includes initiativeness that focus on health,
lifestyle and infectious diseases, agricultural diseases, agricultural innovations, which address
issues of drought and food security, governance, leadership and legislative challenges. Professor
John Ddumba Sentamu (2013).

Revise remunerations for teaching and other staff so that they can give valuable and friendly
services, and held regular seminars on student welfare. For university staff in order to improve
their services.

The universities should come up with alternative ways of delivery services. Overhaul the entire
system and have computerized and well-monitored structures and system of students personal
information, fees payments, examination results and registration. Examination records should be
communicated to individuals by internet instead of pinning them on Notice boards

There should be effective supervision of all institutional services and facilities; teaching process,
medical, water and power supply, handling of results. Create more teaching space and recruit
more staff so that students are put in small manageable groups.

Address the problem of funding through operationalizing the loan scheme for students,
especially those from poor families, to access higher education and for staff personal economic

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development. Also private and public institutions should solicit grants fro facilities and
infrastructure as well as research.

Basheka Muhenda and Kittobe (2009) strongly advocate for Outcome-Based-Education (OBE)
for all higher education systems. OBE’s learner centered approach focuses on what learners
actually they are supposed to learn. Emphasis is not what wants to achieve bur rather on what
the learners should know, understand, demonstrate and become.

Strengthening the security departments. This would help to curb the challenge of insecurity
through embarking on more patrols around and within the university in addition to strict
checking of those entering the university premises.

Accountability and transparency. This should be encouraged to control corruption in these

institutions through the establishment of an independent finance committee to audit university
accounts, hiring both internal and external auditors in order to incur that resources of the
institutions are not diverted for self-interest which may jeopardize the operation of the
institutions.

Proper record keeping. This should be encouraged in higher tertiary/university institutions in

order to address the challenge of losing student information, marks among others. This can be
done through hiring more people to handle student databases and enter results since the
population is high in addition to timely release of student’s results.

Serious efforts should be made to have field attachment with the labour market and practical
training in the world of work in order to promote relevance of the tertiary/university education.

Exemption from statutory obligations. Higher tertiary/university institutions should be protected

against some statutory obligations such as corporation tax or getting waivers on donations which
tend to reduce on the resources of the institutions.

Establishing more medical facilities like ambulance services to cater for the emergencies and
improve on the existing ones to ensure effective service delivery.

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Infrastructure development. This should include the construction and expansion of lecture rooms
in order to address the challenge of congested and few lecture rooms and theaters in addition to
procurement of more laboratory equipment to the students.

Installation of stand by generators to solve power blackouts and procurement water reservoirs to
store water for the students especially those in the halls of residence

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the higher tertiary/university education in Uganda is affected by several challenges

which include inadequate funding, limited tertiary institutions, and insecurity. Congested lecture
rooms, unreliable water and power supply, Youth unemployment, corruption, low salaries paid to
lecturers, poor infrastructure among other factors. This has greatly the quality of education in
Uganda which is gradually declining if concrete steps are not taken.

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References

Robert Odok Oceng (2008), Financing Issues in higher education. Key challenges from
Government Budgeting point of view and options to address them.

Professor John Ddumba Sentamu (2013), Prospects and challenges of higher education in
Uganda.

Conan Businge (2014) Uganda’s higher education is choking (New Vision).

Patrick Ajuna (2011) Government should tackle Makerere problems comprehensively –

The Independent

Basheka BC Mahenda M.B. Kihobe J. (2009), Programmes diversity, benchmarks and

outcomes based education at Uganda management institute; A correlational approach. NCHE –
Kampala.

Kasozi A.B. (2003), University Education in Uganda challenges and opportunities for reform.
Kampala Fountain Publishers.

Sarah Bunoti (2001), The quality of higher education is developing countries needs professional
support.