Editor,

Allow me to respond to Sunny Ntayombya’s article, "A waste of money: Universities are cheating both students and teachers” (The New Times, October 2).

I have always read with zeal articles from this writer and Allan Brian Ssenyonga, especially on academic matters, and I wish to congratulate them for the work well done. However, I beg to disagree with Ntayombya on this commentary.

Much as many will have to agree with him on the transformation of academic arena of the past and today’s field where some people feel the university campus has turned into a meandering square, this is not true but rather a "conflict of generations”.

I surely believe that students are not cheated; it’s just a mismatch between the theoretical approach and practical application of knowledge on the labour market, which interviewers have failed to master and set their cards accordingly to match the new archetype.

It is high time; the so called adjudicators of trustees change their mindset to become what I call "e-oriented”. There is no need of mastering the principles of preparing, say an income statement, yet Google has this in open source format.

On the other hand, I may say that lecturers are cheated, but we should also not also forget the principal of bargaining power especially in private sector, and we should not as well rule out the possibility that Mr. Ntayombya’s bargaining power could have been weak enough not to pull him above his requested salary.

Franklin Smith Amanya