UASU protests increased workload for lecturers.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has asked the Commission of University Education for clarification on the number of units assigned to lecturers in public universities.
After it was revealed that some universities violated the Universities Standards and Guidelines on lecturers’ workload per semester, the union’s Secretary-General Constantine Wesonga wrote to the commission’s executive officer Mwenda Ntarangwi.
Dr Wesonga contended that the standard policy measures lecturers’ workload in terms of hours per week, whereas universities assign lecturers the number of units to teach per semester.
CUE establishes a maximum lecturer workload of 40 hours per week when developing standards for the quality of university education.
Teaching, preparation of examination papers, marking of examination scripts, tutorial, preparation of teaching, supervision of academic work, administrative work, laboratory and laboratory preparation, research and research assignments are among the duties bestowed upon a lecturer under the 40-hour timeline.
UASU Secretary – General Constantine wasonga
Kirinyaga, Karatina, and Multi-Media universities, according to the Secretary-General, were among the institutions that had violated university education standards guidelines.
According to union officials, Kirinyaga University had a workload policy of three units per semester, which was later increased to five units per semester.
And on January 6, 2022, the university management attempted to increase it to seven units per semester, resulting in resistance by the union and legal redress
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Karatina University also sought to increase the number of units per semester for Social Science subjects from three to four, and to increase the number of units for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses from two to three, prompting the union to file a lawsuit in protest.
The Mombasa Chapter of UASU successfully challenged the Technical University of Mombasa’s attempt to increase the workload from three to four units. The court ruled in favor of the lecturer, halting the implementation of the proposed changes.
UASU protests increased workload for lecturers
