Lecturers at Uganda's Makerere University have until October 2002 to achieve a PhD or risk being sacked under recommendations from a university committee appointed to improve academic standards.
Only 194 out of over 1,000 lecturers at Makerere have PhDs. The rest hold lower degrees.
As from next month academics will not be appointed or promoted to lecturer posts without doctorates. Even then, a PhD may not be sufficient for someone to be on the lecturer grade in Makerere. A lecturer will also need masters and first-class or upper second-class bachelor degrees.
John Ssebuwufu, Makerere's vice-chancellor, said: "Lecturers who will fail to complete courses within the allotted time or score less than the equivalent of an upper second-class degree will be dismissed from the university."
Lecturers have no excuse for not pursuing further studies through the staff development fund, he added.
On top of their PhDs, senior lecturers are required to have three years of teaching and research. They should also have three recognised publications in their areas of specialisation since the last promotion. "Academics already working as senior lecturers but without PhDs will never go beyond that level," says the committee report.
Some staff have criticised the report as harsh, describing it as an attack on academic freedom in the guise of scholarship. According to Oweyega Afunaduula, secretary-general of Makerere University staff association, the university has insufficient facilities to cater forlecturers without PhDs.
Lecturers say the report fails to address issues of poor doctoral supervision, academic sabotage,scholarships, political instability and harassment. They also oppose time limits within which holders of masters degrees are expected to attain PhDs.