Contribution of middle management to enhancement of quality education in Ugandan universities

Abstract

The study analysed the contribution of middle management to enhancing quality education in three Ugandan Universities. The field research was carried out in the universities of Kyambogo, Makerere and Nkumba. The first two were public universities, while the third was a private one. The study was necessitated by an outcry of the seemingly dwindling quality of university education. This was happening in spite of the availability of middle management which was supposed to enforce the implementation of quality. The officers in charge of middle management function included: deans, directors, librarians, heads of department and academic registrars. The objectives of the study were: (a) to assess the performance of middle managers as a corollary of funding; (b) to analyse the relationship between funding and quality education; and (c) to evaluate the relationship between middle management and quality university education. The findings of the study indicated that funding qua funding contributed 9% to performance of middle managers. The effect of funding on quality education was 3%. These low percentages reflected the meagre financial resources availed to middle managers. Then, the overall causal effect of middle management on quality education was 54%. To improve the middle management’s contribution further, it was recommended that a national higher education philosophy particularly the philosophy of communitarian servership be adopted. A simulation indicated that with a national communitarian servership philosophy of higher education in place, the contribution of middle management function to quality education was to appreciate to 76%.