The Ivory Tower has this semester had lots of heated up discussions as the University administration led by the Assistant Bursar, Mrs Jackline Ayorekire, took rounds of sensitization programs for the new fees policy in all colleges.
Shockingly in all these college sensitization meetings, all students were agitating for one thing “VALUE FOR THEIR MONEY”. Most notably was in the largest college of humanities and social sciences where issues like dysfunctional computer labs, delayed intern money, slow registration, poor sanitation in the washrooms, dodging lecturers and of course the common MAK syndrome of missing marks were raised.
Zilitwawula Abdul Karim a social science student was thunderstruck as to why MUBS provides supplementary exams for finalists with retakes to graduate on time but Makerere main campus (to which MUBS is affiliated) can’t do such! He also wondered why MUBS results are just a finger tip away after tests or exams which isn’t the case at main campus since the service delivery system is crippled and students are tossed office to office hunting for missing marks before graduation.
“We are willing to even pay more than we do currently if we see value for our money,” he charged.
“Why do government students pay different functional fees in their different halls of residence? I pay shs42,000 at Africa Hall and my friends at Mary Stuart pay shs30,000,” queried Kevin Akwero, a resident at Africa Hall.
Mrs Ayorekire shocked students of how she had no knowledge of this and many other issues.
It’s after this that our team visited the University Assistant Bursar’s office to get a clear view of the service delivery the students complained about.
While talking to Ayorekire, we learned that the functional fees allocated for specific functions like development, technology, sports, library, examination and registration are not actually used for their specific purpose.
“The university puts all money in one pool and uses it to handle every activity in the budget irrespective of where it is coming from,” Ayorekire said.
She added that “the unit cost per student is higher than the tuition they pay which hinders service delivery.”
According to a research carried out by the University through Medical School, a medical student is supposed to pay up to shs10m to be on the same pace with medical students’ standards worldwide. However, this isn’t the case at the University as students pay less.
During the sensitization meetings, the Assistant Bursar discovered that medical students don’t get the required training since they receive insufficient practical lessons. This made her wonder what kind of Doctors the University is producing?.
Depicting that students pay little money and demand for more than what the university can provide.
It’s after such issues were raised that the administrators urged the students to embrace the new fees policy. That it’s because of delayed payments that functional fees are being used to clear bills, salaries and other pending issues at the time the tuition comes in. The Bursar is thus urging students to honor the new fees policy if service delivery proportionate to their tuition is to be realized.
That it’s because of delayed payments that functional fees are being used to clear bills, salaries and other pending issues at the time the tuition comes in. The Bursar is thus urging students to honor the new fees policy if service delivery proportionate to their tuition is to be realized.
The bursar together with the University Dean, Registrar and respective college administrators promised to present these set of issues to respective administrators to ensure value for the students’ money.
The sensitization meetings were aimed at involving students in the new fees policy formulation to avoid resistance there after inform of strikes.
