Uganda: How Universities are catching-up for lost learning time

To make up for lost learning time, universities devise catch-up plans.

Thousands of students were left stranded and frustrated when the government ordered all higher educational institutions to close for the second time as part of a larger effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

For universities and students, these lockdowns have been extremely difficult, and the disruption is likely to last well beyond the vaccine’s release.

After learning from the initial lockdown, some universities and other educational institutions decided to devise several methods for ensuring learning continuity.

Reagan Mulindwa, a second-year Education student at Makerere University, says he was disappointed to have to leave the campus without finishing his semester for the second time.

“Last year, when President Yoweri Museveni closed educational institutions, it was the same situation. We were about to take our final exams. We had to return home now. “It’s so aggravating,” Mulindwa says.

Mulindwa started at the university in August 2019 and hoped to finish his degree in May 2022, but he has no idea when he will finish his second year.

Uncertainty management

According to Prof Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, vice-chancellor of Kampala International University (KIU), students were about to begin their end-of-semester exams when the directive to suspend contact learning was issued, and they had to find another way to administer the exams.

Mpezamihigo is certain that universities will not open anytime soon, but his main concern is what the government can do to ensure the education system’s continuity.

He urges the government to invest resources in digital learning technology and address people’s unrealistic concerns about online assessments, because delivering knowledge online will face greater challenges without it.

“Now is the moment for our colleges to put money into online education. We cannot wait until the pandemic is ended to resume our academic work. “No one knows when it will end or if another pandemic would occur in the future,” Mpezamihigo said.

Running a university in the aftermath of a pandemic, according to Charles Muweesi, senior advancement officer, Directorate of Institutional Advancement, Busitema University, is difficult, but Busitema is adhering to the guidelines set forth by the Health and Education Ministries.

“We established the university Covid-19 Management Committee, which has guaranteed that there are talking posters on the epidemic in every part of the campus. He adds, “Our lecture rooms were also resized to accommodate social distancing.”

Prof Lawrence Muganga, vice chancellor of Victoria University, believes that the government’s concerted effort to vaccinate as many people as possible will remove the uncertainties around the reopening of educational institutions.

He believes that the government, through universities, should improve and promote technology-enabled education to avoid the uncertainties, as the country will continue to suffer if education is not made pandemic-proof.

University calendars are being changed.

Muganga claims that their university calendar has been greatly impacted because various physical tasks that they required to do have been removed from the calendar. Muganga claims that even before the lockdown, he was a proponent of online education.

“The epidemic has taught us how to think in the twenty-first century.” We launched the V-Class, a cutting-edge learning management system, to serve students not only in Uganda but across Africa, ensuring learning continuity,” he explains.

According to Mpezamihigo, KIU has a two-year program of activities that has been continually postponed due to the pandemic. When the University Senate and the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) approved their online operations, he says they had to reschedule and accommodate many things, including the commencement ceremony.

Online evaluation

In order to keep up with the expectations and sustain excellent education and training, students who are now faced with new realities in accessing university education must be quick adapters to the integration of digital technologies and blended learning, open, remote, and e-learning.

Under the current circumstances, many universities have continued to address specific problems and needs in order to maintain the blended format of education and training.

Prof David Lameck Kibikyo, the vice-chancellor of Busoga University, said in a recent interview that the best way forward for universities is to develop ways to manage with the closures while prioritizing online learning.

He claims that there are other benefits to online learning that people and institutions have yet to recognize.

“Learners can study from anywhere and do not have to adhere to strict timetables. There’s also no limit to how many kids you can reach at once. As a result, we need to develop better online teaching methods that combine practical courses like engineering and architecture,” he stated.

According to Muweesi, Busitema University has established a learning platform known as Learn Management System (LMS), and 90% of the lecturers have received LMS training and are now able to upload course outlines, notes, and course tasks on the platform.

He claims that this platform has enabled interaction between students and lecturers, despite the fact that ICT has been challenging in terms of the system and high data costs; however, they were able to achieve zero rating for their LMS platform through Airtel, and all students can access it at no cost.

“We would have finished marking the second semester examinations last month if we had followed the regular university calendar. Although the pupils are responding, this is to be expected. It’s a 50/50 split. There are individuals who are trying their hardest to study, and others who have not mastered the online aspect well, causing academic delays for some students,” he says.

Data is available for free.

Muganga explains that at Victoria University, learning and evaluation took place online, and students were able to complete their exams. He explains that the examination integrity software in their V-Class Learning Management System allows them to assess and supervise pupils from anywhere.

“We formed a deal with Airtel Uganda to obtain free data for all of our pupils. This is an offer extended to all Victoria University students and instructors for the next eight months. This was the only way we could contribute to ensuring learning continuity by assisting parents and students who pay for their own education. All they have to do is get the equipment, and we’ll take care of the rest,” he says.

According to Muganga, these unique times need colleges to give back to students what they have earned over time in order to build human capital and prevent dropouts.

KIU acquired adequate capacity to deliver online learning in June, according to Mpezamihigo, and now has the digital platforms and access mechanisms. He claims that online lectures are taking place and that students are defending their dissertations and theses virtually.

“Our experience with online learning has been positive, despite the obstacles of connectivity and delayed access, which do not detract from the quality of the content. We don’t have physical meetings because we have a virtual senate,” he explains.

Fee reductions and bursaries

Following the outbreak, Victoria University granted full scholarships for five impoverished Ugandans who enrolled in the university’s spring semester, which began on March 1.

David Siya, a traffic police officer assigned to the Central Police Station, Sylvester Lulenzi, a second-hand clothing vendor from Jinja, and Moses Ssemitego, a Kalungu resident, were among the scholarship recipients. Feddy Akello and Swabrah Mbawomye were given the remaining two seats, which were designated for females.

In February 2021, the institution also reduced tuition fees to help students and their families cope with the financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic. To accommodate the new entrants, a 50% reduction was made.

All of these initiatives, according to Muganga, will be maintained for the next three years because no one knows when the pandemic will end.

“Wherever possible, we will provide more bursaries to encourage students to attend school in order to reduce dropout rates. “I urge other institutions to look beyond profits and into the future,” he says.