Effects of cost on the quality of MBA programmes in Ugandan Universities

Abstract

The current study set out to assess the effect of cost on the quality of Master of Business Administration [MBA] programmes in Ugandan Universities using a hypothesized model. The research was carried out in six universities of Makerere, the Islamic University in Uganda, Nkumba, Ndejje, Makerere Business School and Uganda Martyrs University. A purposely designed questionnaire was distributed to 100 students in the six universities. The findings showed that: one, there were significant differences [F (5, 44) = 3.606, P<0.01] among the universities as far as the cost of the MBA was concerned; two, 19% of students’ academic work was influenced by cost; three, the academic work alone explained 32% of the quality of the MBA; four, in order to prove whether quality of the MBA is a function of cost or q = f (c), a path analysis was done. The hypothesized model revealed that 68% of the quality of the MBA was dependent on cost. So a quality MBA requires substantial financial input. Given the above resultant statistic, this study recommended that all universities in Uganda carry out appropriate costing of all academic programmes in order to have quality. The second recommendation was student loan scheme be introduced by government to enable students with financial hardship to borrow money and complete their courses.