I am writing in response to an article in the Monitor on August 5th 2006 by Timothy Kalyegira entitled “Why haven’t our PhDs caused devt in Uganda?” In this article, writer among others refers to the obsession with “further studies” in White, western countries as “maalo” a statement which I very strongly disagree with.
Making efficient decisions whether personal, social or economic should be based on a benefit cost analysis. When an individual is faced with decision making between pursuing a higher degree (Masters or PhD) in Uganda or abroad, they will weigh their benefits (current and future) versus costs, and will chose the option that provides higher benefits and lower costs.

Masters Programs with a two year completion period could easily take up to 5 years at the most highly ranked university in Uganda that is in addition to the fact that quality of education in our best universities is low. Not to mention the pain that graduate students have to go through when writing their thesis, creating a lot of frustration. Compare this to Masters Programs overseas that last only 1-2 years, with better quality of education. Just the time constraint shows that any one based with this decision is definitely going to chose to pursue their degree overseas. This can not in any way be called “maalo” but basic economic thinking.

The writer further provides some statistics about published books stating that every year on average, 50,000 new book titles are published in Britain, 70,000 in Russia, and 150,000 in the United States, and that Uganda has had less than 1000 titles since 1962. How can we compare the number of publications by Uganda’s higher degree earners to those of the western world? For starters the number of individuals in the western world with master degrees or PhDs is so much higher than those in Uganda. The only way that this comparison can be made is by using some of the basic statistical measures like percentages.

The writer noted that advanced degree earners are all about self-actualization which is social status thus the observation that “Uganda’s educated elite, complete with advanced post-graduate degrees, are still generally better known and regarded for the homes they have built, the four-wheel cars they drive, parties they throw or attend, and the people they date. This is yet another simple economic response that has nothing to do with social status. These people usually have great income shifts. Once again in an efficient society an individual is meant to be paid a wage rate that is equal to their productivity. Graduate students have a lot more knowledge to put on the table, thus more productivity and should definitely be made a lot more. If you can give up current for future consumption, this will be reflected in your future wage rate. These people give up a lot of year’s salaries to pursue higher education; it would be too shocking if after they return they are paid the same as the lower level graduates, after all a P.7 dropout is not likely to earn more than S.6 dropout. Given higher income all individuals White Caucasian or Black will respond by consuming more and will expand their consumption choices. The writer seems to blame this on the culture of blacks, but it has a lot more to do with economic demand and supply theory.

The issue on why Uganda seems to have many more citizens pursuing advanced degrees from abroad, with barely noticeable effect on the economy, can be addressed by focusing on the bigger picture of the economy of Uganda but not behavioral differences of Blacks, Whites and Asians as illustrated by the writer. The percentage of Ugandans with master’s degrees or PhDs is definitely not large enough to cause significant impact on the economy. Further more, very few of our highly educated Ugandans are involved in top level fiscal and monetary policy decisions.
Economies with higher levels of human capital have been observed to perform better than economies with lower levels of human capital. These economies also have efficient systems, good infrastructure and low levels of corruption. A couple of studies have shown low economic development in Africa can be attributed to several circumstances, among others to the low educational levels, empirical results show the positive role that human capital has in economic development, thus negative consequences for many African countries if their educational gap is reduced in the next years.

Discouraging advanced level education abroad is such a ridiculous gesture. What we need to do is encourage many of our citizens to pursue higher level degrees abroad. The government should then motivate as many of these individuals to return after their academic programs, to apply the attained knowledge to our various systems. Countries like China and India are doing this, they have so many students study abroad with jobs to return to after their academic program, among other things, their human capital level are on a continuous rise, and these economies are getting better by the day.

Dr. Veronica Wabukawo