Makerere does not award fake degrees, say VC Ddumba

Makerere University has denied allegations that it awarded degrees to a total of 600 students without fulfilling the requirements for the award of degrees of the university.
In a press statement, the University Vice Chancellor Prof John Ddumba Ssentamu refuted the allegations, saying the university has not awarded any fake degrees, graduated any undeserving candidates or recalled any degrees.
“We treat these reports as unfounded allegations only aimed at tarnishing the image of this great institution. We in management would like to re-affirm that Makerere University was not involved in any degree scandal, has not recalled any degrees and has not issued fake degrees,” said Prof Ddumba.
This follows media reports that names of some students appeared on a recent graduation list yet they had not met the minimum academic requirements, an issue that was seen as a public scandal, with a number of people, including MPs tasking the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to conduct a probe into the allegations.
In one of the reports, Prof Okello Ogwang, who is the University Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academics is quoted saying the university is doing an evaluation check on the records system to find out how the anomaly could have come about.
“We received allegations. Change of marks is just one of the issues; some of the cases might have been mistakes in recordings or simply human error. We are doing a quality and evaluation check on the system as a whole and looking at a wide range of issues. We want to prove them. Whether they are 900 or less, I don’t know. We want all the colleges to re-check their systems,” Prof Ogwang told Daily Monitor.
However, in a statement published in the Thursday, March 5 Daily Monitor, Prof Ddumba said that in November 2014, there were allegations of an attempt to alter marks for purposes of including students who did not meet the requirements to graduate in the January 2015 graduation ceremony of Makerere University but when the university management learnt of the allegations, several meetings were held with Principals and Registrars of the College in the months of November and December 2014 to verify allegations that student marks had been altered.

“ Subsequently, the students who were suspected to have allegedly altered marks did not graduate in the January 2015 Graduation Ceremony of Makerere University……The university is issuing transcripts to students who graduated in the last graduation ceremony, upon verification. This is normal university procedure and is contrary to reports that the institution is withholding over 13,000 transcripts,” Prof Ddumba added.
On scrapping of Diploma Programmes, Prof Ddumba said it is normal procedure for the university to restructure her academic programmes, so as to be more responsive to national and global needs.
According to him, such an exercise involves introduction of new programmes and scrapping of old ones.

“Makerere University last carried out a similar exercise in 2010/2011 and is in the process of conducting another. A committee has been set up to study the current programmes and advise on which ones need to be revised. The university management awaits a report from this committee before any action can be taken,” he added.