KAMPALA — The Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) has renewed pressure on the government to implement agreed reforms affecting academic staff, warning that delays in operationalising a new staffing structure and promotion policies are threatening the university's research ambitions and international competitiveness.
In a June 22 letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwire, MUASA Chairperson Jude Ssempebwa urged the ministry to urgently upload the university's new academic staff structure, saying the delay has effectively frozen promotions for qualified lecturers.
The structure, completed during a restructuring exercise in 2024 and subsequently approved, was designed to support Makerere University's strategic transition into a research-led institution by creating additional senior academic positions for staff engaged in research, innovation and postgraduate supervision.
However, according to MUASA, the structure has never been operationalised because it has not been uploaded by the Ministry of Public Service.
"As a result, staff who qualify for promotion are stagnating," Ssempebwa wrote, warning that the continued delay has generated widespread dissatisfaction among academic staff and risks undermining the university's research function and global standing.
The latest concerns signal a fresh chapter in Makerere's long-running staff relations disputes, which for years centred on salary harmonisation, promotions and conditions of service.
Last year, government and university staff appeared to have reached a breakthrough following months of negotiations over salary enhancement and staff alignment, easing tensions that had periodically disrupted teaching and academic activities.
However, MUASA now argues that key administrative commitments underpinning those discussions remain unimplemented.
Beyond delayed promotions, the association has also challenged what it describes as inconsistencies in the university's promotion process.
In a June 17 communication to members, MUASA said its Executive Committee had resolved to refer the matter to an emergency general assembly after receiving complaints that the Appointments Board was disregarding publications produced by lecturers between the time they applied for promotion and when the promotions were eventually effected.
The association argues that this practice contradicts the university's own Human Resource Manual.
MUASA cited Section 2.14.5.4 of the HR Manual, as amended in 2022, which references the university's 2009 Appointment and Promotion Policy. Under Section 14.2.6 of that policy, publications produced after an application for promotion has been submitted should remain valid during the promotion process.
According to the lecturers, failure to recognise such publications discourages academic research because staff members become reluctant to publish work that may later be excluded from future promotion assessments.
The association warned that some lecturers are now withholding manuscripts until promotion decisions are concluded, a trend it says could negatively affect Makerere's research output, innovation and international reputation.
The concerns come at a time when Makerere has slipped in international university rankings.
According to the US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings 2026–2027, Makerere was ranked 23rd in Africa and 639th globally, with an overall global score of 44.9.
The rankings placed the University of Cape Town first in Africa, followed by Cairo University, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Ibadan and Mansoura University.
MUASA believes the university's ambition of becoming a research-led institution cannot be achieved unless administrative and human resource systems are aligned with that vision.
The association says the approved staffing structure was specifically intended to create more senior academic positions that reward research excellence, innovation and postgraduate supervision.
Without its implementation, lecturers who satisfy promotion requirements remain trapped within the old establishment despite meeting academic criteria.
The lecturers also argue that human resource practices should encourage, rather than discourage, research productivity.
In its latest position, MUASA says Makerere's leadership should move beyond aspirations of becoming a research-intensive university and instead ensure that staffing, promotions and institutional policies deliberately support that objective.
The association referenced higher education scholar Prof. Jamil Salmi's work Building World-Class Universities, which argues that internationally competitive universities are built through deliberate investment in attracting, motivating and retaining high-quality academic talent rather than through aspirational policy statements alone.
MUASA further maintains that some existing human resource practices continue to undermine staff morale, including policies it says force highly qualified and experienced academics into retirement despite their continued capacity to contribute to teaching and research.
With the new academic staff structure still awaiting implementation and promotion concerns unresolved, the association is now calling on the Ministry of Public Service and Makerere University management to urgently implement agreed reforms, warning that continued delays risk slowing the institution's research output and weakening its competitiveness among Africa's leading universities.
