IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING A GRADES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN UGANDA

Private universities provide flexible training and research structures to scholars with opportunities for credit transfer, course auditing as well as course exemption to meet the varied needs of the target audiences. These possibilities coupled with a wide range of disciplines, large student numbers and limited institutional resources present constraints which impact the grading process. Grading has multiple roles salient among which is its role as a means of communicating to students, guardians, graduate schools and future employers the students’ performance and potential for further success. This evaluation of the students’ work should accurately reflect the quality of not only the work but also the grading process.
The traditional manual grade management process was prone to a number of risks which included miscalculation of student grades using inaccurate grading algorithms and inability to effectively monitor the transactions of the officers charged with grade processing. These risks implied investment in not only technology and human resource but also institutionalization of policy to cultivate the prescribed quality while providing avenues for addressing associated quality issues.
This paper presents the impact of implementing a grades management information system at Ndejje University in Uganda. The paper examines the rudimentary grade management workflow and associated operational bottlenecks prior to implementation of an information system as well as detail the impact of the information system on the workflow of key users and stakeholders.