Rethinking Academic Reward Systems: The Perceptions of University Staff on Recognizing and Instituting Teaching Excellence in Research Intensive Universities in Uganda

Muwanguzi Sande Erunao – Department of Foundations and Educational Psychology, School of Education, Kyambogo University

Ghislain Maurice N. Isabwe – Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), University of Agder (UiA) Norway

Paul Muyinda Birevu – Institute of Open Distance and eLearning, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University

Email: smuwanguzi@kyu.ac.ug

Abstract: Higher education institutions have become part of performance-oriented environments in which the outputs from research and publications determine how the institution is recognized and how academic careers progress. In spite of increased scholarly production, there is still a problem of teaching excellence not receiving adequate attention in the reward systems of universities. Although existing literature on the topic of teaching recognition has concentrated on conceptual and policy issues, very little empirical research has been done on university staff attitudes on the matter, particularly in research-intensive universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present paper explores perceptions about teaching excellence and recognition of teaching excellence in research-intensive universities in Uganda using an exploratory sequential mixed method design. Findings indicate that teaching excellence is largely dependent on recognition practices, workload arrangements, and promotion in the institutions more than any teaching practices in class. There are very strong correlations between institutional recognition, academic identity, and teaching excellence. Institutional Teaching Recognition Framework was proposed.