By Edgar Baribonwa
Makerere University has embarked on plans to ensure that transcripts are ready by the beginning of the one-week-long 74th graduation ceremony slated for January 29th to February 2, 2024.
According to an internal memo shared by the Academic Registrar Professor Buyinza Mukadasi to the Makerere University Senate that URN has seen, the University plans to issue transcripts on each day of the graduation ceremony.
“We embarked on the printing of transcripts for the 74th graduation due to start on 29th-2nd Feb. In this regard, please encourage our prospective graduates to process their Clearance Forms and submit them to their respective College Registrars. We plan to issue transcripts on each grad day,” reads part of the internal memo.
“Our 2024 Slogan is “Walk away with your transcript after Freedom Square”. Fortunately, clearance has been made easy, they only need to obtain 2 stamps, i.e. University Bursar and Library,” it adds.
Patience Nambazira, the Guild Academic Minister and Senate member told URN that there have been plans to have transcripts out at a convenient time to help graduates get to the job market when they are equipped with all their documents.
She added that the priority was given to Law school because it was the first school that presented the list of students who had reached the requirements to graduate next year. “The printing of transcripts had already started even before the semester ended, so as soon as the graduates clear the requirements, they will receive their transcripts. They started with the school of law because they had their list of graduation out way back, so they were the first people to be considered,” she said.
“It’s a good move for the side of students, they face challenges when they have to wait for their documents, but printing transcripts on the graduation will make that process easy,” she added.When contacted for a comment, Professor Mukadasi said that while that there are plans to have transcripts ready on graduation day, he understands that it is a big task and achieving it will be a huge milestone.
“We have the plan, but I can’t commit to you, but the plan is there. You know it is a huge task that needs a lot of time and resources. But let’s do our very best if it comes out, we are all winners, we shall celebrate it, we are doing our best, and if it comes out we shall be counting it as a victory for all of us,” Mukadasi told URN.
Since assuming the role of Vice Chancellor, Professor Nawangwe has consistently pledged to have transcripts prepared before graduation, a goal that has proven challenging to accomplish. At the 73rd graduation ceremony, Nawangwe attributed the delay in transcript preparation to difficulties in obtaining the necessary materials. Makerere University has long grappled with delayed transcript releases, a process often spanning months after graduation.
This delay has frustrated graduates, leading many to abandon their transcripts and certificates at Uganda’s oldest higher academic institution. As a result, many students have casually opted to pick their testimonials, a document that acts as an immediate copy of one’s results but must have the signature of the Dean of the College, which is easy to obtain compared to the transcripts.
Last year, URN reported that Makerere University is saddled with more than 100,000 uncollected transcripts and certificates of students who graduated in recent years which compelled the University to organize a two-week fare for students who had not claimed their transcripts and certificates to pick them up.
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