A Student Loan Scheme in Uganda

THE FEASIBILITY OF A STUDENT LOAN SCHEME AT MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
TARGET GROUP: PRIVATELY SPONSORED STUDENTS WOTHOUT RESOURCES TO FINANCE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.
POSSIBLE PROJECT SUPERVISOR: BANK OF UGANDA.
POSSIBLE SOURCE OF FUNDING: WORLD BANK (IDA) LOAN TO GOVERNMENT.
DOCUMENT BY: WILLY KITUUKA.
CHAIRMAN – MAKERERE UNIVERSITY PRIVATE – STUDENTS’ PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION (MUPRISPA).
P. O BOX 2678, KAMPALA – UGANDA.

1 BACKGROUND

A Student Loan Scheme and Credit Finance Fund is overdue at Makerere University.

1.1 The students who take on payment of the fees get a lot of problems in the course of their stay, and statistics which may be cross-checked at the Academic Registrar’s office clearly show that students keep dropping off semesters after semester as the going gets tougher with meeting the tuition fees. Currently, its only when a student is fully paid that he/she is secure of doing the set examinations for a given semester, and short of this there is almost no short cut but to forget about his/her studies.

1.2 The University Tuition fees are Independent of accommodation costs, and other living expenses, such that if a student is required to pay Shs.500,000 Five hundred thousand shillings only for a semester, he/she may have to raise not less than Shs.250,000 for accommodation for a given semester in addition to other living expenses.

1.3 Therefore, in helping the students with the Tuition fees, there is equally a substantial amount of money that the student has to raise to sustain through the semester.

1.4 In the same vain, if a Student Loan Scheme is to be successfully launched, the recovery of the Loan funds must be thought. Since students are expected to start payment on getting employment, it becomes extremely important to figure out the feasibility of recovering the loaned out funds.

1.5 It is against the above background that a Curriculum Review at the University is of utmost importance. Among the aspects that should incorporated are Marketing theory, Feasibility Studies, Proposal writing and Credit Management not forgetting course content relevancy to the job market in general.

1.6 With the above incorporated in each course content, there are chances that students on graduation will be able to submit project proposals which may be funded for own or group job creation. This arrangement can make it a guarantee that each student on graduation has some employment out of which he/she is capable of making payment for the tuition in instalments and meeting the servicing of the credit advanced.

1.7 In reference to her article “Here is why the quota System cannot work,” which appeared in the New Vision, Monday, September 6, 1999 - Dr. Joy C. Kwesiga - Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Makerere University wrote:
“The large numbers of unemployed social scientists is more a function of an irrelevant and unstimulating system of education. Elsewhere, Humanities graduates become millionaires through innovative ventures in modern technology, the Internet, International Trade, Small Scale Industries name it. They are assisted by an education system that opens up their minds to many possibilities, including making it on their own, rather than directing them to narrowly defined specialisation. By providing basic tools, higher education becomes the firm foundation, not the end of the road.”

1.8 “A national culture of self development should form part of our educational content, and replace lamentations about unemployment. The state should widen options for students to utilise their talents beyond the current channel that steers them to rigidly demarcated curricula. Experiences such as that of late Dr. Samson Kisekka who took correspondence courses in business management concurrently with his medical training provide relevant lessons.” Dr. Kwesiga further wrote that student loans are long overdue. Caution mainly lies in creating the appropriate structures for recovery of funds. Without loans, government adds more to those who have.

1.9 “Makerere today is a production line that Churns out identical graduates by the cartons,” said a Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences. “With so many people to teach and so little time, we sometimes do not give as much as we would like to give.”
1.10 A private student at Makerere University who pays an average of Shs.600,000 as tuition, and Shs.250,000 on accommodation in a hostel, spends about Shs.1,250,000 every semester. Given that there are 6 semesters in a 3 year course, this translates to about Shs.7,500,000 at the end of the course.

1.11 “Ironically, however, the success of the Private Sponsorship Scheme has kicked off an exodus into the Diaspora. Today more students after their A level are packing to countries like India, Britain, the U.S., name them. It has become very expensive at Makerere University, yet the standard of Education is going down hill. It is quite cheap to study in India that is why 300-400 students go to India a year and are able to do courses of their choice and many are quite marketable and practical.

1.12 In his election manifesto 2001 “Consolidating the Achievements of the Movement”, President Yoweri Museveni said, “When Makerere University introduced Private Sponsorship, intake increased from an annual 2,000 Government Sponsored Students to 14,000 students in the year 2000, out of which 12,000 are private students. Through this scheme, Makerere generated Shs.12.5 billion in 1999/2000 Financial year and was expected to generate Shs.16 billion in the year 2000/2001. The funds generated by Makerere outside the Government budget have made it possible for the University to increase the pay to the lecturers and other workers and to construct new buildings. The challenge facing Makerere University now is to ensure quality education and to dedicate more resources to research.” The President further said, ‘My Government will establish an Educational Loan Scheme to increase access to higher education.’

1.13 The Makerere System of admission leaves out many brilliant candidates who can not afford to pay the millions of fees under the private sponsorship scheme who become “drop-outs.”

1.14 “The Makerere Scenario shows that there is greater need to reform than ever before,” say Prof. Senteza Kajubi, Vice Chancellor, Nkumba University.
“Government should now borrow money to lend to the poor students who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant fees at the University” said Kajubi. Kajubi’s remarks are in line with the recommendations of the 1992 Government White Paper. The paper based on the education policy review commission report recommends that Government establishes a system of study loans to students who are unable to raise the necessary finances for University education. Such loans, say the paper, have to be interest free and payable when a student completes his or her studies and finds gainful employment.

1.15 Efficiency at Makerere University has increased and financial dependency on the state reduced with enrolment more than doubled from 9,369 in 1995/96 to 20,368 in 1999/2000. The proportion of private sponsored students at Makerere has also increased to over 70% in 1999/2000. While public spending on education more than doubled between 1995 and 2000, the allocation to Makerere University increased only by 7%

Source Uganda Poverty reduction
Strategy paper Progress Report 2001.

1.16 Makerere has moved from a situation where noneof its students paid fees to one where more than 70% do. Where the Government previously covered all running costs, now more than 30% of revenue is internally generated. The most important impact of increased institutional income has been on staff salary structures and incentive schemes. Professors can now earn over US $1,300 per month with the possibility of added supplementation on an hourly basis from evening classes.
Source Higher Education in Developing Countries - Peril and Promise. A world Bank publication.

1.17 Clearly, cost sharing cannot be implemented equitably without a functioning student loan program to make funds available to all students who wish to borrow for their education and without scholarship programs that guarantee necessary financial support to academically qualified poor students unable to absorb the direct and indirect (foregone earnings) costs of higher education. However, sustainable loan programs require an effective collection agency, with incentives to minimise evasion and default.

Source: Higher Education - The Lessons of Experience. A world bank
Publication.

1.18 Restructuring at Makerere has had three key interrelated thrusts:
- Implementing alternative financing strategies,
- Introducing demand - driven courses,
- Installing new management structures.
Inside the University the most significant effects of these measures have been the diversification of income sources, the more complete utilization of facilities; managerial devolution and greater autonomy from Government. Outside, the main result has been to facilitate efforts of Government to re-allocate the educational budget between different levels of the system.

1.19 The first step towards privatisation occurred when the Institute of Adult and Continuing Education inaugurated a self-sponsored external degree program in 1992. The Faculties of Law and Commerce initiated Privately Sponsored Evening courses the following year. In 1994, the University Council accepted the principle that faculties with places remaining after the prescribed government intake could fill them with private students. One year later Evening courses were sanctioned for all faculties. Within three years privately sponsored students exceeded the number supported by Government.
The revenue from private students sources rose from 4 to 10 billion shillings in the period 1995/96 to 1998/99. It is however likely that the long term financial future of Makerere will depend upon the development of a major student loan scheme which will require a high level of political commitment and managerial finesse and may be the next great educational challenge for the country.

Source: Financing Higher Education in Africa: Makerere, the Quiet Revolution. David Court - A world Bank Publication .


1.20 Professor Michael Lejeune, of Uganda Martyrs University warns that, “as long as some members of the society are excluded on the grounds of their low income, low social class, etc., there exists a basic problem in our approach to higher education.”

1.21 Dr. Ahmad Kawesa Sengendo of the Islamic University notes that students from the poorer, northern part of the country are already under represented among the self sponsored students at Makerere.

Ref.: the Courier no. 173 - January - February 1999
“University Education in Uganda.
“Quality despite adversity”
By Amin. Kassam.

2. HOW WOULD A LOAN SCHEME WORK?
There are two aspects incorporated in the Student Loan Scheme. The first is a membership/subscription fee for one to be enrolled with the scheme. This fee should be payable once, say Shs.100,000 during the students’ stay at the University. The second component of the scheme could be say a 5% commitment fee on the Semester fees, payable every semester.

3. WHY MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION AND COMMITMENT FEES?
(i) It is possible that some students may default in making payments after they have graduated or could abscond.
(ii) Some students may die before they have fully paid the loan granted.

(iii) Out of the money got interest payments may easily be met to the creditor.

(iv) The payment may greatly contribute over time to the building up of a local fund out of which future loans would be met and sustained.

(v) This arrangement would make it unnecessary getting involved in bureaucratic calculations of interest on funds advanced to individual students, such that they would only be required to meet the principal sums.

(vi) This practice would discourage those that can have funds for financing the fees as they would see it as an expense which may not be called for. So one would take on the scheme after a second thought.

(vii) The fees would help in meeting the administration costs of the scheme.

(viii) The fees would ensure and guarantee that the periodical payments to the creditor are met and much so on time.

4. WHERE WOULD THE COMMITMENT FEES AND SUBSCRIPTION/ MEMBERSHIP FEE BE PUT?
The major purpose of the subscription/membership fee and commitment fees is to create more value. In the current Uganda setting the most secure area to have these funds is in Bank of Uganda as Treasury Bills. Over a period of time this would accumulate a lot of money which would help in sorting any possible short comings in loans advanced to the students.

5. RATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS AND RECOVERY MODALITIES OF THE LOAN SCHEME FUNDS
There are a number of assumptions before the funds are advanced to the student:-
(i) That the student would probably not be able to meet the cost of his/her education without the facilitation in form of loan scheme.

(ii) Secondly that the student on graduation would be able to get employment or create his/her own given the facilitation in form of credit to own/group project.

(iii) It is assumed that a student will take on a given course after being properly advised of the prospects ahead in the job market.

(iv) It is assumed that the student will co-operate on realising the great assistance given to him/her to do his higher studies, and will act rationally to ensure repayment.

• Against the above assumptions, it may be required to have two guarantors who at any given moment in time may be in the know of the whereabouts of the beneficiary.
• Secondly, there would be stipulated procedures and formalities before granting/releasing the academic transcript and degree certificate to the graduates.
• Third, the Parents’ Association may have to help students in identifying employment opportunities locally and internationally.
• Those with prospect employment outside the country would equally be facilitated to take on the prospects through meeting the cost of the air ticket and also given some pocket money.
• The Association would get involved in implementation of projects and proposals that would end up providing viable employment prospects for some of the students on graduation.
• There would be emphasis on morals and good behaviour in general like safe guarding against unsafe sex for the sake of keeping free of HIV as this would increase the chances of default if the beneficiary falls sick and eventually dies.

6. WHY THE SCHEMES IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
Practical experience at Makerere University is such that majority of the students who are Government sponsored are those from the well to do families. These are families where a child has had education from a good primary school through to the secondary and because of the good education background these students end up with better passes and this scenario leaves no opportunity for those from poorer family backgrounds to be taken under the Government Sponsorship Scheme. In a nutshell, the Loan Scheme is a necessary development for keeping a balance in the economy so that the students from the poorer families are also catered for. So far, many of the students who don’t excel at their A’ level exams have proven to perform excellently at the University.

Secondly, there is general poverty in the economy where a good number of the parents who sponsor their children part with value, for example selling of assets like land. Much of these assets would be put to better use and development instead of being sold off which leaves families poorer.

A student in a Loan Scheme arrangement would study with certainly that he/she will complete his/her studies. Unlike the situation today when a number try and fall by the way side.

Also the students who qualify for admission but fail to raise the funds will have chance to do their university studies without a big hurdle.

The Scheme will also give the students a chance to be more focused on some job prospect so that when they complete their studies they have the drive to recover the funds.

The students are therefore likely to be more serious not only with academics but also to realise value after school when the Loan Scheme is implemented.

• There is a general observation that the big costs the students have to meet during their stay at the university force some of them to get involved in prostitution, both the girls and the boys. It is believed that when the going gets tough some of these people get to sort the problems through this window. Chances are that with some sure funding through a Loan Scheme those involved in these acts would stop being involved in prostitution related acts.

N.B. Regarding the Credit Management for the Project Proposals by graduates, the Scheme can learn from the Inter American Development Bank - Micro enterprise Unit in the Sustainable Development Department. The chief of this Unit is Marguerite Berger.
Ref.: the Courier - a magazine of ACP - EU development Co-operation April/May 2000 issue page 13-16.

7. PROSPECTS FOR LOANED STUDENTS

7.1 One possible area that could be seriously explored is the refining of our
medicinal plants. The country spends a lot of money on imported drugs. I believe some graduates can be incorporated into drug manufacture using the knowledge of science they would have got and basic equipment. This can be supported by increasing acreage of the area planted with medicinal plants for future mass production. World trade in sale of drugs based on traditional medicines amounts to over US $32 billion a year.

7.2 A group of agricultural graduates and veterinary doctors can be facilitated
to open a farm where modern equipment can be used. These people may contribute substantially to increased food production at a lower price.

7.3 A strategy that can identify some foreign companies that can process some
of their parts in Uganda by using cheap labour from our University may also greatly contribute to increased employment prospects. This is done in other countries where the production process of components has been decentralised to different countries taking advantage of comparative advantages and a boost to the economic activity for the hosting country.

7.4 Graduates can take on a project to boost the food resources (grains) for the
World Food Programme Office being established in Uganda. If these graduates are availed land and tractors, using their knowledge I don’t think they can go wrong.

7.5 Using the country’s comparative advantage in agricultural production, I
can envisage good partnership with establishments that do agro-processing which could open shop in Uganda or even import these agricultural products for final processing in their own countries. Uganda can have good value if the market is studied well and economies of production are taken advantage of.

7.6 There is need to increase the capacity and variety at the University
Computer Institute so that it can train the various expertise needed in the
computer industry world wide. This innovation if backed up by some Indian computer expertise can earn the Ugandan students job opportunities outside the country’s borders, and sure employment in the computer firms.

7.7. The students need to be encouraged to start working in group
arrangements. With groups like for Auditing and Accounting, graduates
can take on Accounting work for many decentralised districts where book
keeping is a big problem which may not be sorted in a short while as politics in the districts and other local Governments rules over academic credentials hence giving people who are merely popular but at times without relevant skills responsible administration positions. This calls for the back up of technical know how.

7.8 The Consultancies ideology if encouraged at University level can
encourage students to get involved in the drawing of various programmes
for the districts in different needy areas. For example Government has a lot of funds to be sunk into the Districts in form of Poverty Action Fund, however, in the districts on ground the technical ability in lacking. Graduates can come in to bridge the gap by identifying the needy areas, undertaking the necessary studies and producing the reports which they could help to supervise at implementation.

7.9 It has been observed in the medical circles that many children are not put
on proper diet which makes them prone to opportunistic infections some
of which call for vitamin rich drugs. The graduates in the field of medicine and agriculture can come up with a joint arrangement which may be decentralised to the district and sub-county levels to help on community awareness campaign to address the diet problems. This could help to reduce the mortality levels. Properly written out proposals in line with dealing with diet should get funding as a priority and this way the graduates involved would be employed.
7.10 The students who have done social work and social administration plus
some Agriculturalists, Artisans can join hands and come up with a project to manage street children. These children can be rehabilitated from a friendly environment, then they can be taught a number of life skills including agriculture, English language, moral issues, carpentary and woodwork skills, sewing for the girls, design work name it. A properly written out proposal in this line should be generously funded, and employment would be enhanced.

7.11 High quality education schools are booming business. A case in point is
Vienna College one of the most expensive secondary schools which attracts children of the well to do some of whom come from abroad. A group of Education Students should be able to establish similar establishments for primary, secondary, and vocational training. What is needed is a climate which can encourage the University students to brain storm about how they can go about the whole business and once funding is identified projects of the nature are in the right direction.

7.12 In Uganda today experience is that funds channelled to a privately run
project or programme stand a high degree of benefiting the beneficiaries
of the project/programme. Against this background, the University can
take the initiative to encourage students into self/or group employment, and have such efforts backed directly by potential donors. It is believed that students would do all that is possible to harness this opportunity given the harsh experiences of moving up and down the streets in an effort to look for employment prospects.

7.13 Human Rights are a priority area that needs to be exploited. There is need
to look at the possible funding for programmes that may be locally implemented and others on a regional level. If funding is identified, students who have offered Human Rights Studies may design programmes which when funded may contribute to the local and regional improvement of the Human Rights and hence stability in the region.

7.14 HIV/AIDS Pandemic has brought into existence a new problem. The
elderly used to get the care of their children up to when they would breath their last. Today, as the HIV/AIDS pandemic targets those in their youthful years most, the elderly find themselves left to care for the orphaned children and the future of the children is not certain yet the elderly are strained. I envisage a project country wide in support of the elderly headed households, sustaining them and the grand children as in the right direction.

7.15 One reason why there is a big unemployment problem in Uganda is partly
because the students are not properly guided and counselled in career prospects. Career Guidance and Counselling services are badly lacking. Graduates if funded could undertake valuable studies as regards finding out the needy areas and the skills and this information when got could be fed to the Ministry of Planning for proper guidance and funding for the needy areas.
Secondly, organised guidance and counselling personnel can be able to charge a fee for services rendered as professionals to schools and institutions of High learning which badly need these services. Third, this category of people could help the compilation of a national data bank for manpower showing the availability of skills and advice may be given where retraining may be a valuable undertaking. With the above undertaking properly funded chances are that there may evolve an education system with deliberate planning to relate education to the job market. And in the final analysis the education sector should be able to work with the economic sector to ensure that courses offered in schools and colleges relate to the job market.

7.16 There is need to get to access as much information as possible from all
possible sources. For example recently there were proposals called for from individuals and private entities to the “Development Market Place” which offer expired on 1st May 2001, but to which any capable person would participate and the chances for funding to the tune of say US $50,000, 100,000 up to 250,000 were there but many were not informed!!
Currently there is the World Bank’s Boost to Uganda’s HIV/AIDS Control
Channelled through Uganda AIDS Commission where individuals or
groups could for example submit proposals under the community led HIV/AIDS initiative where US $10 million is available.

Shortly, there shall be the UNDP support to small and micro entrepreneurs. There is no reason why students cannot take up the challenge.

There is the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of United Nations Development Programme which is still on and some of the potential applicants to this facility could be the university graduates. This can be “entandikwa” to see one off ground.

7.17 The tourism business in Uganda has been hit by insecurity, however,
reliable information has it that in the 21st Century, tourism will be the largest Industry - according to the World Travel and Tourism Council in 1999, the sector was projected to generate directly and indirectly 11.7% of World GDP and provide nearly 200 million jobs and the latter figure was forecast to rise by more than five millions jobs a year over the next decade. The points to note here are two, one that if all possible is done to advertise the tourist attractions locally and also improve on the security for the tourists - the country should reap big revenues from this sector and any strategies done to see how the revenues can be realised are in the right direction.

Second, given that the prospects are not good for locally employing the Tourism based manpower, it remains important to ensure that the training
locally of Tourist based manpower is up to international standards which would make our graduates competitive in the global market for tourism based trained manpower.

We can learn from Madagascar’s Experiences: A Decade of Reform and Innovation in Higher Education.
Ref. Findings - A World Bank Publication on Human Development.
No. 159 - May 2000.
E.mail: Dviens@worldbank.org
(Daniel Viens & James Lynch - Prepared the article).

7.18 Necessity is the mother of invention. Today there is the Bank of Uganda
Export Credit Guarantee Facility. One reason why this facility came into existence was to boost the export earnings of Uganda. The graduates therefore need to organise themselves into company arrangements and from the information on the Internet or otherwise may identify a good or service that they can export. If the buyer and the seller are in line then the flow should be facilitated.

The problem with the Export Credit Guarantee Facility is like that of other Credits under Bank of Uganda, in that the Bank’s inability to administer the funds and leaving it to the discretion of commercial banks makes the project funds unaccessible to many prospects clients otherwise this is one fertile ground that could be exploited by graduates organised in serious groups to overcome unemployment problems.

7.19 Much as the Government of Uganda may spend a lot of resources through
the Local Government decentralisation, the picture so far is that the
benefits expected are not really earned by the communities to the extent that much of the social infrastructure like the roads are not repaired. Dispensaries lack drugs and a lot of otherwise well designed programmes don’t deliver to the poor they are meant to.

Part of the problem is that politics overrules accountability. Many of the LC leaders are secure as long as they sing praises to Government and ensuring its grip on power. This is done at the expense of service delivery. There are many wrong priorities and the corruption plus the embezzlement of funds. For example in some sub counties the agricultural officers even if they make budgets for their programmes the LC Councillors being political heads have the final say. So what is happening is that many of the technical people at the districts and below are at the mercy of the politicians who have the touch with the financial resources and decision making.

Because of this frustration the officers who would perform end up redundant and under funded and they look on as their programmes gather dust. If this situation is not addressed, that is, the amorphous Local Council Infrastructure, a lot of useful resources for development are going to go down the drain.

A model to check this where an alternative approach is developed like a
situation where programmes made are copied to the line ministries and follow up methods developed is a situation that may call for an input by University graduates to study the situation on ground and help to formulate an alternative approach which would be acceptable by the system of the local council but accountable to the tax payer who currently loses a lot of resources at the hands of the opportunistic few. Decentralisation to-date in Uganda can be characterised as corrupt, lacking in transparency and accountability, inadequate service delivery and social exclusion all of which in totality divert resources from the poor, needy and powerless to the rich, replete and dominant. A study to reverse this trend is in the right direction.

Ref.: Promoting Good Governance with Social Funds and Decentralisation, from Findings: A World Bank Publication on economic Management & Social Policy Human Development - No. 181 April 2001. Article from PREM Notes No.51, January 2001 - By Andrew Parker (Senior Learning Specialist, Office of Vice President, PREM Network.)

7.20 It is a fact that there are firms outside Uganda which are interested in
getting business partners in Uganda. This is an area which can be exploited by the University graduates. They may among other things have to identify the needs of some potential investors into the country. And if organised these graduates can attract joint partners if they can provide the necessary information to the potential investors, and somehow this can improve on the employment prospects.

Ref: Findings - No. 169 - October 2000 “African Firms: Learning and productivity Improvement: Article by Tyler Biggs, Senior Economist, Africa region. For information contact E.mail: mmbuyi@worldbank.org

7.21 The graduates may need to do a bit of more homework to see the role they
can play in the promotion of information Technology. This is in the right direction mostly so where we have most of our business community literate and semi-literate and harnessing the potential of the global market calls for being Information Technology complaint mostly in electronic - Commerce. Projects developed to get the economic players appreciate modern technology as may be designed by the graduates are in the right direction for the country’s economic development.

7.22 University graduates could also be involved in new designs of poverty
alleviation models. An example of these is the Mauritius “A Nou Diboute Ensam (Let’s all stand together) launched with European Union Funding - in November 1999. The strategy proposed for the Micro projects programme was “holistic, multi-sectoral and community based using participatory methods both for problem solving and for multi-Project design and monitoring.

Reference to the Mauritius model and borrowing from its successes could
greatly help Uganda in its poverty alleviation programmes and the input of graduates here may go a step in helping the country’s development efforts.
Ref: the Courier Issue 180 April/May 2000 “A Nou Diboute Ensam” Page 88 & 89.

7.23 Our graduates in Agro forestry can exploit the wealth of knowledge
generated by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and design projects that may benefit localities throughout the country. Many of the agroforestry trees are resourceful in Energy provision, food, medicine, fruits, timber, cloth industry, fodder, dye, habitant for bees, name it, all of which can be the basis of designing local industries and hence economic empowerment of the population.

7.24 Makerere Graduates can also venture into the field of producing
professional sportsmen. It is common knowledge that some Ugandans have become international sportsmen simply by coming through simple sporting while at school and eventually their talent has been identified and a number have joined International teams as professionals.

The trick is simple. A group of graduates interested in sporting may come up with a proposal to see that they train sportsmen for both local and international teams.

On identifying the talent these sportsmen would be brought together for continuous serious training and meanwhile the market prospects for interested teams locally and international would be identified. There can be very good revenue from this source more so if the pioneers’ are reflected on some website for world wide publicity.

7.25 There are just too many Ugandans who are in need of some form of
employment whether skilled or not. One virgin area that may need to be exploited is the potential of “Exporting manpower” both skilled and unskilled.

This could require first having a local data bank for the various classes of manpower available with their qualification and experience and then the shopping around world wide to try and identify areas in need of manpower.
One crucial role those venturing into this area may have to play is that of ensuring that their manpower is multi-lingual so as to be able to communicate in different environments. It is for example common knowledge that German has been encouraging Information Technology personnel and giving them Green cards. It is also likely that both skilled and unskilled labour will be required there given the situation on ground.

7.26 Uganda graduates could also be helped to explore the Cinema/Film
Industry. World wide there are experiences that could be incorporated in our local art and have this marketed Internationally. How to exploit this potential remains unclear. There is need to adapt, innovate and also learn that ways of the market place - when these are properly internalised in the film industry, there should be good money generated.

Ref. “Cinema” the Courier No. 185 March - April 2001 - page 45 - 62.

7.27 There can also be money and employment prospects for manpower with
some technical know how in the development of appropriate technologies for our use. This can learn from experiences elsewhere to modify on irrigation systems, technologies that can help in semi-processing of agricultural produce like the removal of husks from groundnuts, the getting of grains off the cob and many other designs say in brick making and the technology innovations that can save on energy.

N.B. Additional Lessons: Findings No. 122 of November 1998 - “Lessons
from Africa’s Social Funds and Public Works & Employment projects. E.mail: Lfrigenti@worldbank.org

8. LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM LOAN FUNDED
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ELSEWHERE
8.1 If Makerere University implements its own model for a Students Loan Scheme which should be backed by a Credit Facility to help individual or group efforts in own employment, it is important to learn from experiences of Loan Schemes elsewhere.
8.2 One area which can be a good starting point for Makerere University is the Kenya Universities experience.
This is under The Universities Investment Project (UIP) which was conceived in 1990 as an Investment -Oriented Complement to the Education Sector Adjustment Credit (EDSAC).

8.3 The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) was created in 1995 by an Act of Parliament, which grants enhanced legal powers for recovery of student loans. HELB administers bursaries in addition to means-tested loans. HELB has successfully computerised loan processing and loan recovery functions, becoming much more efficient than the former student Loan scheme Unit of the Ministry of Education. HELB recognises that it needs to develop a medium - to long term financial strategy to respond to expected increases in need for financial aid students.

8.4 In 1995, it was announced that student loan eligibility would no longer be automatic, with means-testing introduced, and that food and accommodation would be charged at cost.

8.5 Lessons learned from the Kenya Universities model are:-

1) Project design should provide for an appropriate balance between decentralization of responsibilities to Universities, and Central co-ordination;

2) Lending operations in support of a small number of Universities which are self-accounting organisations should investigate at appraisal the structure of revenues and expenditures of the beneficiary Institutions;

3) If a project has an objective of educational quality improvement, there should be indicators to monitor this.

Ref. World Bank report No. 19976, Kenya Universities Investment Project: Implementation Completion Report:
More Information: Email: Bjones@worldbank.org.