Makerere University is expected to shorten its semesters by a few weeks to ensure that First Year Students for the August 2020 intake and the 2021 batch do not miss a year.
Like all education institutions, Makerere officially closed its gates to students in March 2020 following President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s orders to free mass concentration places as a way of preventing the spread of Covid19.
Schools have since reopened their gates to finalists and candidate classes, and encouraged open, distance and e-learning (ODEL) for non-candidate and non-finalist students.
Makerere, Uganda’s largest and oldest higher learning institution, has revised its calendar for new students and set tentative graduation dates.
71ST GRADUATION
The university’s 71st graduation ceremony will happen from March 16 to 19, 2021.
Normally, the ceremony happens in January.
Finalists returned to finish their programs in mid-October.
FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF AUGUST 2020 INTAKE
Students admitted for the 2020/21 academic year were supposed to start learning in August.
But these have been home.
The university now plans to open its gates to these thousands of students starting January 30, 2021.
THREE SEMESTERS IN ONE YEAR
To cover the missed time, students will attend three semesters in one year, only breaking off for a few weeks.
This will be akin to the primary and secondary school term system.
These semesters have been made shorter compared to normal ones.
For the first semester, for example, students will study for 13 weeks as opposed to the normal 17.
They will then rest for just one week in early May 2021.
Semester Two will start on May 15.
By early September, these students will have completed their second semester – and therefore, their first year.
When the 2021/2022 academic year starts in August/September 2021, they will be beginning their Second Year.
CURRENT A-LEVEL STUDENTS
Current Senior Six students who wish to join the country’s premier university will also have a shorter vacation as opposed to almost eight months between end of Advanced Level of Education to university.
A-level students will sit their final exams in March 2021 – instead of October-December 2020 – and join the university barely six months later.
Makerere plans to open its gates to freshers in September 2020 for their First Year first semester that will be three months.
When the University Senate approved these changes at the end of last month, it also discussed the proposal to make laptops a compulsory requirement for all learners to ensure that learning happens remotely incase government chooses to keep school closed for non-finalists and non-candidate classes.
