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Prof Sserwanga: Turning the fortunes of Mutesa I University
Prof. Sserwanga a a recent function. Photo by Edgar R. Batte.
At first sight, Prof. Arthur Sserwanga is unassuming. In a red tie striped with blue linings, he sips from a cup as he types out on his iPad fastened triangularly on a mahogany working table.
As I draw closer, he reaches out with his right hand, maintaining a straight gaze. He gestures with the left arm, showing me to a seat. We exchange courtesies.
He is the Vice Chancellor of Muteesa I Royal University (MRU), where he has served for two years during which he has risen to a number of challenges.
First, he took over at a time when the university was indebted to a tune of Shs3.2b which is more than half of the annual working budget. Then, the university did not have a charter, staff with PhDs were fewer than those required, the turn-over was high and the university needed to create identity. He thought hard and smart and finally devised ways to deal with the issues at hand.
“We have paid much of the money but it puts a strain on what we can do because we continue to pay the debt. In the last two years, I made sure that we increased our staff with PhDs to 16 which is a good ratio by African standards,” he explains.
The university, owned by the Buganda Kingdom was accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in 2007. Sserwanga was recruited as vice chancellor in July 2014.
He is a composed person handling the challenges at hand with a sober yet innovative approach with a a two-decade experience in education.
Choosing to teach
He was the best student when he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Makerere University Business School in 1998. His college dean and school’s principal talked to him about being retained as a teaching assistant. He had some thinking to do.
The youthful accountant was offered a salary of Shs140,000 to teach but was puzzled because his car alone consumed fuel of up to Shs160,000 in a month. Besides, he had other job offers from companies such as Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
The urge to teach was strong so he went for it. He set a target that he would teach for five years and move on but God had other plans for him.
He taught for 17 years at MUBS and rose through the ranks from a teaching assistant, lecturer, senior lecturer to university administrator. It was worth the while.
He got a lot of experience and exposure. He pursued a master’s degree of Science in accounting and finance. Thereafter, he embarked on a doctorate in philosophy.
Sserwanga, the vice chancellor
When the University Council at Muteesa I Royal went out scouting for a suitable vice chancellor, he had a befitting Curriculum Vitae (CV). The choice was right. At the moment, he is working on improving the university’s research, as well as initiating collaborations with other universities like the University of Swaziland and University of Western Cape.
Through such efforts, he would like to improve the university’s image and grow it in rank and ultimately respect. Meanwhile, he is keeping a tight noose on the coffers.
“Every Shilling we have has to be maximally utilised. We have changed our library. Books are expensive so we are insisting on having fewer physical books and maximising on buying e-books which are available on our intranet. We have millions of books, journals and articles,” he explains about the new pattern the university has adapted.
The university has also reduced on usage of printed paper. At the time of his appointment, Prof Sserwanga recalls the university was spending in excess of Shs7m on bank slips. He has done away with the expenditure.
If a student wants to pay tuition fees, they do so online. This saves time and money too. With reduced expenditure, Sserwanga has now finalised plans to build a modern green lecture and office complex at the Kampala campus in Mengo.
He has challenged students, and lecturers alike, in the Engineering faculty to find cheaper power because hydroelectricity is too expensive. The university used to spend a cumulative Shs4.5m on power every month which has reduced to Shs2.5m.
At the Mubende campus, solar has helped them save Shs560,000. They only use hydroelectricity as back-up, and only pay about Shs50,000. The vice chancellor has also embarked on greening the university.
In his other life, Sserwanga is a family man; a husband and father. He enjoys gardening, listening to music, playing badminton and gymnastics.
Going green
“We have a lot of rubbish. We want to collect it and turn it into biogas. We are designing a system that will do this at all our campuses,” he explains. In all this, Sserwanga is working with teams because he knows success can be achieved through joining hands.
