Makerere must redeem its image
Jan 15, 2008
LAST week it was reported that several top organisations had approached Makerere University to verify the authenticity of academic documents of their employees. This followed the revelation that Makerere transcripts are easily forged.
LAST week it was reported that several top organisations had approached Makerere University to verify the authenticity of academic documents of their employees. This followed the revelation that Makerere transcripts are easily forged.
The academic registrar, Olal Odur, said there is an increase in the number of organisations which had requested the university to verify the academic papers of their staff.
An investigation by a committee of deans last year reported that some officials in the Academic Registrar’s Office were involved in the forgery of academic papers in exchange for money.
Two officials have already been suspended. Makerere University is the oldest university in the country and once used to be the pride of not only Uganda but the whole of Africa.
The fact that employers are becoming suspicious of Makerere’s academic papers is very unfortunate. Makerere must redeem its image.
The members of staff implicated in the forgery, if found guilty, should get severe punishment to serve as an example to others. Secondly, access to the Academic Registrar’s and the Transcript offices should be restricted.
Forgeries at Makerere were almost unknown until the 1990s when university education was privatised. This caused a stampede for higher education and it became much easier for people with money to buy their way into institutions of higher learning.
Makerere and all other educational institutions must discourage this. One way of doing this is making transcripts and certificates more difficult to forge. For example, it is no longer as easy as it used to be to carry fake Makerere identity cards. This is because the features of the university’s identity cards have been made more difficult to forge.
The duty of stamping out the vice should not be left to Makerere alone. All employers should routinely cross-check with universities to verify the academic documents submitted by applicants.
Finally, the names of all the people found with fake qualifications should be published in the press to make forgery very unattractive lest the vice continues.
The academic registrar, Olal Odur, said there is an increase in the number of organisations which had requested the university to verify the academic papers of their staff.
An investigation by a committee of deans last year reported that some officials in the Academic Registrar’s Office were involved in the forgery of academic papers in exchange for money.
Two officials have already been suspended. Makerere University is the oldest university in the country and once used to be the pride of not only Uganda but the whole of Africa.
The fact that employers are becoming suspicious of Makerere’s academic papers is very unfortunate. Makerere must redeem its image.
The members of staff implicated in the forgery, if found guilty, should get severe punishment to serve as an example to others. Secondly, access to the Academic Registrar’s and the Transcript offices should be restricted.
Forgeries at Makerere were almost unknown until the 1990s when university education was privatised. This caused a stampede for higher education and it became much easier for people with money to buy their way into institutions of higher learning.
Makerere and all other educational institutions must discourage this. One way of doing this is making transcripts and certificates more difficult to forge. For example, it is no longer as easy as it used to be to carry fake Makerere identity cards. This is because the features of the university’s identity cards have been made more difficult to forge.
The duty of stamping out the vice should not be left to Makerere alone. All employers should routinely cross-check with universities to verify the academic documents submitted by applicants.
Finally, the names of all the people found with fake qualifications should be published in the press to make forgery very unattractive lest the vice continues.