340 to miss graduation over results
Mar 23, 2003
On Friday 28th, all roads lead to Makerere University’s Freedom Square for the 43rd graduation ceremony where close to 3,000 students will be awarded degrees and diplomas in a wide range of academic disciplines.
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
On Friday 28th, all roads lead to Makerere University’s Freedom Square for the 43rd graduation ceremony where close to 3,000 students will be awarded degrees and diplomas in a wide range of academic disciplines.
Whereas proceedings for this great event are taking shape, several students will remain with a ‘cloud on their brows’ because they will not be able to be part of graduation euphoria as they had earlier anticipated.
The controversial question of where students’ results go is still unanswered, several months after they did their examination and handed in their dissertations.
University officials however put the blame on some students who have failed some of the course units (subjects) and begin ‘panicking at the last moment.’
Officials in the Social Sciences Faculty say whereas about close to 1,000 will be given the award, about 340 others will miss because either they either failed or had problems with their results.
The Faculty Dean, Dr. Edward Kirumira admitted that such problems of missing results exist. But most of the cases are those fail some of their papers.
He attributes this to the sluggishness of some students. But quickly adds: “Any organisation would certainly have mistakes here and there. Because of the increasing numbers of students, you can not rule out some of these things. The university admits all sorts of students, where some of them are not very interested in studying. Such are the people who end up failing some courses and go around complaining.â€
He adds: “But the system here also has its weaknesses although the students are increasingly contributing to this problem.â€
Students counter react by blaming some lecturers who either misplace their results or deliberately refuse to submit them for perusal by the respective Examination department. It’s also alleged that some lecturers delay to approve dissertations.
“I did my examination in the department. That is the same place where I handed my dissertation, now they are saying I go to the academic Registrar’s Office. Why can’t they explain to me,†says a Mass Communication student, not sure if she will graduate.
Sources at the Faculty of Social Sciences said that all the students who did ‘retakes’ will not graduate as a form of punishment. About 350 students sat the retake examinations.
“Re-taking encourages laziness. Students who did retakes were not allowed to graduate,†the source said.
Dr. Kirumira however says that the Faculty advised the students to wait for a ‘systematic solution to their problem.’
“These students wrote to the Academic Registrar, asking that the scripts of the papers they had failed should be marked under special conditions. This was rejected because it is unethical and exposes students to the examiners. We talked to them and agreed that they should wait for October because rushing would even cause more mistakes,†he says.
At the end of the day, the counter accusations on who should bear the blame for the mishap rock the corridors of several departments.
Whereas it is true that some students miss graduation because they have not fulfiled the requirements, it’s equally true that some miss out because of reasons beyond their control. The most common is missing results.
Missing graduation for whatever reasons is not a new thing at the University. It’s only the circumstances that differ: ranging from individual failure to ‘erroneous staff.’ A simple mistake of either party can be the price.
Academic Registrar says that close to 3,000 students will be awarded degrees and diplomas.
“It is the duty of respective departments to compile the lists of their students and forward them to us. We do not handle results but we can listen to the complaints,†he says.
In other Departments, B (Arts) 60, Tourism 163, Environmental Management 109, urban Planning 62, Development studies 22, Mass Communication 20.
In the School of Education, about 800 both Bachelors of Science and Arts with Education will receive the award. About 300 however will miss because of similar reasons.
Several students have raised complaints that although they had passed the ‘retakes’ or even passed all their courses and submitted dissertations, some names were still missing from the list.
A female student speaking on condition of anonymity however said: “Every thing was clear to me that I had passed all my examination.
“I had not missed any course and I submitted my dissertation on time. I was only waiting for the day when I would graduate, now I can’t find my name on the notice board. It’s a nightmare.â€
“What do you think happened?†I probed. “That’s what I was going to ask you. My friends and parents are doubting me. Perhaps you have an idea on what happens to our results,†she replied, almost breaking down in tears.
“Unfortunately, I have no idea. No one seems to know. The whole thing is a mystery, she adds.
Several other students will follow suit in their struggle to find out what happened to their results.
But for the majority who managed to escape the unfortunate occurrences, all is set for the ceremony that many view as the end of the struggle whereas it actually is not. The next stage is hunting for a job in a bottle neck market.
On Friday 28th, all roads lead to Makerere University’s Freedom Square for the 43rd graduation ceremony where close to 3,000 students will be awarded degrees and diplomas in a wide range of academic disciplines.
Whereas proceedings for this great event are taking shape, several students will remain with a ‘cloud on their brows’ because they will not be able to be part of graduation euphoria as they had earlier anticipated.
The controversial question of where students’ results go is still unanswered, several months after they did their examination and handed in their dissertations.
University officials however put the blame on some students who have failed some of the course units (subjects) and begin ‘panicking at the last moment.’
Officials in the Social Sciences Faculty say whereas about close to 1,000 will be given the award, about 340 others will miss because either they either failed or had problems with their results.
The Faculty Dean, Dr. Edward Kirumira admitted that such problems of missing results exist. But most of the cases are those fail some of their papers.
He attributes this to the sluggishness of some students. But quickly adds: “Any organisation would certainly have mistakes here and there. Because of the increasing numbers of students, you can not rule out some of these things. The university admits all sorts of students, where some of them are not very interested in studying. Such are the people who end up failing some courses and go around complaining.â€
He adds: “But the system here also has its weaknesses although the students are increasingly contributing to this problem.â€
Students counter react by blaming some lecturers who either misplace their results or deliberately refuse to submit them for perusal by the respective Examination department. It’s also alleged that some lecturers delay to approve dissertations.
“I did my examination in the department. That is the same place where I handed my dissertation, now they are saying I go to the academic Registrar’s Office. Why can’t they explain to me,†says a Mass Communication student, not sure if she will graduate.
Sources at the Faculty of Social Sciences said that all the students who did ‘retakes’ will not graduate as a form of punishment. About 350 students sat the retake examinations.
“Re-taking encourages laziness. Students who did retakes were not allowed to graduate,†the source said.
Dr. Kirumira however says that the Faculty advised the students to wait for a ‘systematic solution to their problem.’
“These students wrote to the Academic Registrar, asking that the scripts of the papers they had failed should be marked under special conditions. This was rejected because it is unethical and exposes students to the examiners. We talked to them and agreed that they should wait for October because rushing would even cause more mistakes,†he says.
At the end of the day, the counter accusations on who should bear the blame for the mishap rock the corridors of several departments.
Whereas it is true that some students miss graduation because they have not fulfiled the requirements, it’s equally true that some miss out because of reasons beyond their control. The most common is missing results.
Missing graduation for whatever reasons is not a new thing at the University. It’s only the circumstances that differ: ranging from individual failure to ‘erroneous staff.’ A simple mistake of either party can be the price.
Academic Registrar says that close to 3,000 students will be awarded degrees and diplomas.
“It is the duty of respective departments to compile the lists of their students and forward them to us. We do not handle results but we can listen to the complaints,†he says.
In other Departments, B (Arts) 60, Tourism 163, Environmental Management 109, urban Planning 62, Development studies 22, Mass Communication 20.
In the School of Education, about 800 both Bachelors of Science and Arts with Education will receive the award. About 300 however will miss because of similar reasons.
Several students have raised complaints that although they had passed the ‘retakes’ or even passed all their courses and submitted dissertations, some names were still missing from the list.
A female student speaking on condition of anonymity however said: “Every thing was clear to me that I had passed all my examination.
“I had not missed any course and I submitted my dissertation on time. I was only waiting for the day when I would graduate, now I can’t find my name on the notice board. It’s a nightmare.â€
“What do you think happened?†I probed. “That’s what I was going to ask you. My friends and parents are doubting me. Perhaps you have an idea on what happens to our results,†she replied, almost breaking down in tears.
“Unfortunately, I have no idea. No one seems to know. The whole thing is a mystery, she adds.
Several other students will follow suit in their struggle to find out what happened to their results.
But for the majority who managed to escape the unfortunate occurrences, all is set for the ceremony that many view as the end of the struggle whereas it actually is not. The next stage is hunting for a job in a bottle neck market.