The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University has asked graduands to pick up their transcripts immediately after graduation.
Nawangwe who is also the Acting Chancellor was addressing guests at the 74th graduation event on Tuesday. The one-week-long graduation that started on Monday entered day two with students from the College of Education and External Studies (CEES), and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) receiving their degrees.
Nawangwe said that they have long tried to streamline the process for obtaining clearance and ensuring that graduates receive their transcripts on the day of graduation.
By November 2022, the University was stuck with more than 100,000 uncollected transcripts and certificates of students who graduated in recent years, prompting the university management to host a two-week public fair for students to retrieve their documents.
Nawangwe said while they issued 4,650 certificates and 4,113 transcripts, more than 100,000 certificates remain unclaimed, and it is from this background that the Vice Chancellor asked all alumni to come and pick.
In November Makerere University said that it had embarked on plans to ensure that transcripts were ready by the beginning of the 74th graduation ceremony.
Nawangwe pleaded with this year’s graduates to complete the requirements for selecting their transcripts and avoid the University from adding to its already heavy workload.
The University also shortened the criteria for former students to pick up their academic documents after complaints from students about the lengthy procedure to obtain their academic transcripts after graduation, which forced hundreds of students to abandon their transcripts and certificates.
The process was simplified to merely clearing with the finance department and the University Library unlike before when whoever wanted his transcript had to seek clearance from several offices including the dean of students, guild president, college registrar, college bursar, university library, university hospital, Makerere police post, games union, their hall of residence and Bursar.
Several students that URN talked to said that they would not leave their transcripts because they needed them urgently to seek jobs while others said that they needed them to pursue post-graduate studies.
Graduands vox pop
At least 12913 will receive different degrees in the one-week-long graduation ceremony that started today from 29th January to 02nd February 2024. Among these, 11016 will graduate with bachelor’s degrees, 1585 master’s degrees, 156 postgraduate diplomas, and 24 undergraduate diplomas, while 132 will be awarded Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.
Statistics indicate that 53% of the graduates are female and 47% are male. In the category of Ph.D. graduates, 46 are female and 86 are male.in the category of students graduating with master’s degrees, 699 are female and 886 are male.
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