The federal government has reworked guidelines for overtime compensation payments across public higher learning institutions. Faculty members holding the title of associate professor and above are entitled to a maximum of 250 Br for each credit hour. One credit hour matches 15 hours of instruction.

The majority of public universities do not pay their faculty members overtime compensation. The few that offer the payments do it without a formal pay structure.

“There’s a need to implement a uniform pay structure across all universities,” said Samuel Kifle (PhD), a state minister for Education.

The move is part of a strategy implemented by Ministry of Education officials to improve the quality of teaching in higher learning institutions. Last week, senior officials of the Ministry issued a directive compelling university students to sit for exit examinations before completing their undergraduate studies.

Salaries and benefits for faculty members at public universities have long been a topic of debate. Although faculty members are crucial in higher education, their salaries remain a source of misgiving to the staff. Most faculty members are required to commit 60pc of their time to teach while devoting the remaining to research and community services. However, the influx of students has stretched the time allotted to instruction.

The number of fresh students enrolled at public universities doubled in the past eight years, reaching 120,000 last year. The swelling student body is partly the result of a rapid expansion in the number of public universities. Forty-two public universities enrol over 350,000 students. However, the academic staff-to-student ratio is a little over 70 to one. The National Center for Educational Statistics reports an average of 18 students for a faculty member in the United States.

Experts argue that expanding tertiary education without retaining academic staff with adequate professional qualifications and experience brings little to enrich students.

Andualem Zewde, a former dean of Addis Abeba's Tegbaried vocational college, emphasises the relationship between pay and performance.

“The salary scale and compensation packages in higher education don’t consider much of its core element, which is teaching,” he said.

There is a dire shortage of qualified and experienced academic staff in Ethiopia, particularly those with postgraduate degrees.

Matiwos Ensermu (PhD), vice president of administration at Addis Ababa University (AAU), sees the introduction of uniform overtime compensation as a good start considering the financial resources available.

“Pays are now better than the past,” he told Fortune.