Kyambogo University Vice Chancellor Professor Eli Katunguka Rwakishaya has admitted that Uganda’s public universities are battling deep structural constraints that continue to delay PhD completion, including inadequate senior academic staffing, limited supervision capacity and the high cost of postgraduate training.
His remarks come ahead of Kyambogo’s 21st graduation ceremony, where the institution will, for the first time, graduate 23 doctoral candidates.
Prof Katunguka said the university had expected a larger number but several candidates failed to submit on time.
He said the delays reflect a broader African trend.
“On the African continent, students take about six or seven years to finish their PhDs, whereas in other countries a PhD takes three or three and a half years,” he said.
He added that the issue is systemic rather than academic. The hurdles around funding, supervision and staffing, he said, continue to undermine timely completion.
A significant barrier, according to Prof. Katunguka, is the high cost of postgraduate training, especially for the majority who are self-sponsored.
“Those who pay for themselves sometimes find it difficult to keep pace with the payments of the university, and that causes them to lag behind,” he said.
Science-based PhD programmes may cost about Shs 9 million per year, while humanities programmes average Shs5 million.
Prof Katunguka emphasised that these figures vary by programme but remain high relative to most income levels.
He also cited acute shortages of senior academic staff qualified to supervise doctoral candidates.
“For a university to supervise PhDs, you must have people at the higher level – professors, associate professors and senior lecturers with PhDs. The capacity to supervise is still limiting in many of our universities,” he said.
Kyambogo is currently operating at 37 percent staffing, far below the required threshold. The university is engaging government to raise staffing levels to at least 50 percent to improve supervision capacity and reduce delays.
He added that the challenge extends across the sector. Uganda’s pool of professors is small, and institutions with the highest numbers, especially Makerere University, cannot release senior staff to support other universities.
To address long-term shortages, Kyambogo is implementing what it calls the most ambitious academic staff development programme among public universities.
“We have an ambitious staff development programme. Kyambogo is the only university that has this programme. We are now sponsoring about 80 members of staff on their different postgraduate training programmes,” he said.
He noted that building senior academics is a long-term process.
“We need people at senior level – professors, associate professors, senior lecturers. Professors are trained over a long period of time. They do not just appear,” he said.
Prof. Katunguka appealed for increased government support for both postgraduate student funding and the training and retention of senior academics, arguing that sustained investment is the only realistic way to shorten PhD timelines.
Despite the challenges, Kyambogo will record a historic milestone as 23 doctoral candidates graduate at the December 10–11 ceremony.
Of these, 12 are from the School of Education, four from the School of Art and Industrial Design, three from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and four from the Faculty of Science.
Prof. Katunguka said this improvement reflects deliberate reforms.
“When I came to this university, it was offering many diplomas and certificates. I emphasized that we must shift from teaching diplomas and certificates to teaching masters and PhDs,” he said.
“I’m glad that the university has been graduating many PhDs as years go by.”
He added that the number would have been higher had several candidates not been delayed by incomplete dissertation corrections.
Overall, 5,138 students will graduate – 3,157 male and 1,991 female. He described the graduating class as “relatively small,” saying it reflects a “mop-up” of students affected by COVID-19 disruptions, including periods when UNEB did not release UACE results.
Day one will have 2,463 graduands, while day two will have 2,675.
