The Vice-Chancellor of Uganda Christian University (UCU) Dr. Aaron Mushengyezi on said that continuing students will be starting exams on September 15.
He made the remarks at UCU during a press conference on Tuesday, September 1.
Dr. Mushengyezi said that National Council for High Education (NCHE) visited the institution to check on how they are to work without flouting the Covid 19 guidelines.
He said: “We received guests from National Council for High Education last month who checked on our facilities to see our preparedness for a virtual campus, we were approved and are to start in the next two weeks.”
He said that all students will be reporting online for studies while continuing students who were to do their exams in January semester will do their exams for a month and
Towards the end of the January semester, students were preparing for examinations when the president directed that schools should be closed.
The VC noted that all courses will be reporting for the September semester including the Nursing and Dental courses that had been stopped from being admitted by NCHE.
As the country tries to adapt to the new normal, various organizations and institutions are finding ways of coping up with the novel Covid-19.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs Dr. John Mulindwa kitayimbwa confirmed that they are soon resuming with studies.
Dr. Kitayimbwa said: “Life might never get back to old normal however, UCU has been prioritizing E-learning since 2014.”
He noted that before Covid 19 people were been put in charge of developing the software which will soon be used during this new normal. In the software, there is a provision to detect plagiarism in take-home exams or work.
He also noted that the practical courses will also resume and have revised means to ensure even while students are home they can still have their practicals. “According to our statistics when students report accessing the university WiFi, 90% of our students have access to smartphones or laptops. Those without access to the Internet, their exams will be sent to their nearest diocese where they can pick it from.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Finance and Administration John Mugabwe said that there will be value for money as they adopt the virtual campus. “We are going to invest in our infrastructure to ensure successful online studies.”
“It is going to be expensive and costly at the beginning as there is going to be the training of staff to ensure they deliver good quality content, however with time it will not. Parents will be required to pay tuition but since the students will not be at the campus they will not be required to pay the functional fees” He added
He also noted that they have not terminated any contracts yet however, they will be calling those employees that will be needed at the institution as the rest wait because they have no capacity to pay them.