university counsils will reduce lectureres stikes

Higher education commission CEO yesterday said the establishment of councils in universities to deal with salaries and remuneration of lecturers will resolve nationwide strikes.

Prof David Some the newly appointed CEO of the commission said that putting into action councils will relieve the government of the burden of being the sole employer of the lecturers.

“The government will give capitation, the councils can agree with the institutions on salaries. They will gain finances through payment of fees at unit cost: it could be through the government (Joint Admissions Board), loans, scholarships or individuals,” Prof Some said.

Prof Some spoke to the press as he took over office from Mr Everett Standa as the commission’s chief executive officer.

“We support efforts by the government, that the cabinet committee will be diligent and fast enough. A promise of an increase in salary from July next year is the reality. We want a successful election,” Prof Some added.

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Ministry of Higher Education Secretary Prof Harry Kaane said that there are regrets on the ongoing strike by the lecturers and they hope the strike will end soon.

“We urge the lectures and professors to go back. The government will put an offer when there is one,” Prof Kaane said.

Prof Standa who served as the chief of the commission for six and a half years said that he would like for lecturers to go back to the classroom to avoid disturbance of the school calendar.

“We join the government to ask the lectures to go back to class, as some students were to graduate, others were in the exam period. The commission does not directly deal with the salary issues,” Prof Standa said.

Prof Standa added that there are issues that need to be addressed to at the university, including rogue institutions that are syphoning millions out of innocent people and a New University Act that will see inspection of both private and public universities.

He also stated that universities would have a new ranking system.

Prof Some said that the ranking of universities would be done on basis of quality in four areas: based on quality of students, qualifications of academic staff, infrastructure and Curriculum.

“We will use quality to measure with parameters on a scale of one to ten. The equipment institutions have that levels of education of lecturers and academic life of students will be considered,”Prof Some concluded.