Can Uganda’s Public Universities Borrow a Leaf from Private Universities on The Issue of Strikes?

Using qualitative approach, the current study was carried out in December 2022 in three private universities and one public university. One hundred ten students and 30 academic staff were the oral informants, selected randomly without considering the Faculties/Schools they were from. They were asked to explain why strikes have occurred in private to an extent that does not merit mention, yet in public universities they have occurred from time to time. The data were collected using oral interviews, as well as documentary review, such as the reports of the various visitation Committees to public universities. The majority of respondents noted that although salary, working conditions and students’ affairs in public universities were far better than those in private universities, strikes by staff and students were too rare in private universities because of job insecurity, rampant unemployment in the country, employees working without appointment letters, the founders being “highly connected to the security agencies†, having many informers, as well as the students being listened to so much.