How much each university lecturer will earn under the new CBA

University lecturers are set to earn higher basic salaries under the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), following a Sh20 billion deal between the government and university unions that ended the lecturers’ strike.

The new salary structure outlines revised basic pay across six academic job categories, from graduate assistants to professors, with salaries varying according to an employee’s grade and notch.

According to the published salary table, the basic monthly salary for professors and research professors (Grade 15A) ranges from Sh257,772 to Sh440,884 by the 2028/2029 financial year, compared with the previous range of Sh224,631 to Sh345,816 in 2024/2025.

Associate professors and associate research professors (Grade 14A) are expected to earn between Sh221,684 and Sh379,160, up from a range of Sh193,182 to Sh297,403.

For senior lecturers and senior research fellows (Grade 13A), the new scale provides for basic salaries ranging from Sh177,568 to Sh303,707, compared with Sh154,739 to Sh238,221 under the previous structure.

Lecturers and research fellows (Grade 12A) will earn between Sh139,917 and Sh239,312, up from Sh121,928 to Sh187,710.

Assistant lecturers, tutorial fellows and junior research fellows ( Grade 11A) will have their basic salaries set between Sh123,788 and Sh211,725, while graduate assistants and research assistants (Grade 10A) will earn between Sh73,038 and Sh124,929.

The new figures reflect the progression of basic salaries across the different grades and notches over the agreement period.

The salary review follows prolonged negotiations in which the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) pushed for substantial improvements in lecturers’ pay.

In its earlier proposal, the union sought to raise the maximum basic salary for professors from Sh345,816 to more than Sh580,144 by the end of the agreement. It also proposed increasing the maximum basic salary for senior lecturers from Sh238,221 to Sh399,644.

However, the published salary structure sets the maximum basic salary for professors at Sh440,884 and that of senior lecturers at Sh303,707 by 2028/2029.

The government committed Sh20 billion towards implementing the agreement, with the funds scheduled for disbursement in three financial years: Sh6.7 billion in 2026/2027, another Sh6.7 billion in 2027/2028 and Sh6.6 billion in 2028/2029.

The agreement provides for a 3.5 per cent basic salary adjustment, alongside annual automatic increments of five per cent, according to reports on the deal.

The revised salary scales mark a key outcome of the negotiations, which centred on improving university staff remuneration and addressing long-standing disputes over pay.

Beyond the basic salary adjustments, the agreement also provides for improved allowances, including commuter, annual leave, and passage and baggage allowances. The minimum monthly commuter allowance for the lowest-paid university employees will rise to Sh18,000.