"Neo-Liberal Policies, Governance Reforms and Students’ Politics at Makerere University: A Literature Review"

Abstract

The study focused on neo-liberalism and its influence on Governance Reforms and Student Politics at Makerere. Systematic Literature Review was employed to review academic journals, policy papers and book chapters. Both broad search and specific focused search were used to generate themes and subthemes of the required literature. The study was guided by the public-private distinction theory which elucidated succinctly on the role of public-private organizations and their relevance to this study. The study revealed that before and after independence, higher education in Uganda was a monopoly of the state. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were reforms in Uganda’s higher education delivery based on neo-liberal policies. It is pointed out that government was no longer competent enough to maintain its monopoly in the management of higher education in the country because of its inability to adequately fund the system. So what happened is that a number of governance reforms were implemented based on neo-liberal policies which focused on market-oriented approaches. Such market-oriented concepts included; cost sharing in public universities, private higher education, commercialization/commoditification and massification of higher education. Students’ response to such neo-liberal reforms was particularly significant especially at Makerere. These policies shaped students’ politics at Makerere characterized by violent demonstrations and strikes which at times led to lose of lives and property in and around Makerere.