The Goverment has tabled a Bill before Parliament seeking to give the University of Rwanda (UR) more autonomy.

The Bill, tabled on Friday before the Chamber of Deputies by the Minister for Education, Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, seeks to amend some of the provisions in the current law governing UR.

The current law was enacted in 2013.

The draft law intends to enable UR directly name principals for its colleges and heads of organs within the colleges, make its staff and faculty members governed by a special statute, and directly decide salaries for its senior managers.

Lwakabamba said if amendments proposed by the draft law are approved, the university will be more autonomous from the government and better positioned to be successful on its mission.

He said the changes will help the institution deliver quality education by developing innovative teaching and research meant to address the problems of the population, the students, the nation, the region and the world.

"In the last two years of the university’s transitional governance, we realised that the university needs a better level of autonomy. Amending the university’s law will help it realise its mission,” Lwakabamba told legislators.

Provisions that the government wants amended in the current law governing the UR include articles 4, 9, 10, 14, 15 and 22.

While Article 4 of the law establishing the University of Rwanda provides that the college principal is appointed by a Presidential Order and the modalities for appointing other heads of organs within a college determined by a Prime Minister’s Order, the Bill tabled before Parliament provides that the college principal is appointed by the University Council and the latter also determines the modalities of appointment of other heads of organs within a college.

The change is suggested to enhance the UR’s autonomy in appointing its authorities, officials said in an explanatory note submitted with the draft law.

While Article 9 of the law establishing UR provides that the university will comprise four senior organs, the draft law wants the university’s Board of Governors be replaced by the University Council and that a new organ named the Senior Management Committee created.

Among other major changes that have been requested in the draft law include making the university’s staff and faculty members governed by a special statute, and letting the university’s council directly decide salaries for its senior managers.

Harmonising varsity staff

In what is being described as a bid to harmonise the management of UR staff, the draft law provides that university’s academic, research and administrative staff are governed by a special statute.

This means that Article 15 of the law establishing UR will be amended because it provides that UR academic and research staff are governed by a special statute, while UR administrative staff are governed by the General Statute for public service.

In order to enhance UR financial autonomy, the draft law provides that benefits entitled to Members of the Office of the Vice Chancellor of the UR are determined by the University Council.  This is in contrast with the current provision, which says that benefits entitled to Members of the Directorate General are determined by a Presidential Order.

During last Friday’s session, legislators received proposed changes to the university’s management with mixed views, with some saying that the university doesn’t deserve to be fully independent from government, yet the latter allocates budget to the university, and others agreeing with the proposed changes to make the university more independent.

"If the university is yet to be self-sufficient in terms of financial revenues, how can it ask to be fully autonomous when it still depends on the government for funding?” wondered MP Suzanne Mukayijore.

But her views are completely different from what MP Christine Muhongayire thinks about the appropriate business style for a university like the UR.

"For long, university lecturers and administrative staff have asked to be governed by a special statute; I support that they get it,” she said, adding that the academic world should be different from the ordinary public institutions.

In the end, the legislators in support of the draft changes outnumbered those against the move and the Bill’s basis was approved by Parliament, which means that debates on the draft law will proceed to a parliamentary committee.