Towards A Framework to assess the effectiveness of Education Management Information Systems in Higher Institutions of Learning in Uganda. PRESENTED BY:HILDA MPIRIRWE MAKERERE UNIVERSITY PHD CANDIDATE:REG NO 2015/HD05/2946U STUDENT NO.215023948

Presentation Outline The paper has the following structure; Title Abstract Introduction /Background Problem statement Objectives Methodology Results/Key findings Conclusion/Recommendation

ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the Education Management Information Systems in higher Institutions of learning. A number of issues were identified like; fraud where students bribe administrators, secretaries, lecturers by paying them lots of money to have their marks altered so they can obtain better grades and also appear on the graduation lists. Other cases identified were sexual harassment for the female students in exchange for marks. Hence production of half-baked graduates who at times cannot speak, read, write and even thinking correctly. The researcher used descriptive survey design that included both qualitative and quantitative methods. This was mainly because of its appropriateness in seeking to obtain relevant information that describe the existing phenomena and help to find facts that yield accurate information

Introduction/Background EMIS “Education Management Information system” is a system for organising information base in a systematic way for the management of educational development. It is also responsible for collection, processing, analysing, publication, distribution, rendering information services for users of educational information. Problems in higher institutions of learning range from loss/Missing of exam marks, alteration of marks, and as a result missing on the graduation list which is so frustrating to the parents who have endevaoured to pay tuition, to the employers who have trusted and given students jobs and to the public whereby the institution will loose public image and the country at large will portray a bad image.

Background Higher institutions of learning have registered cases of these student result loopholes like; alterations in students marks and even dragged some students and some academic staff and some school/faculty administrators to courts of law and it is a question of moral integrity. Some lecturers claimed that students did not do assignments or exams and yet students have their marked answer booklets/scripts with their names and marks to prove that they had actually done the exams. However, a lot has been said and done but there is still need to assess the effectiveness of Education Management Information Systems, in addition to punishments given like dismissing students or academic staff involved in the cases mentioned and deleting students’ names from the graduation lists.

PROBLEM STATEMENT Higher institutions of learning are confronted by several challenges inline with students results management as shown by increased cases of marks/Result alteration involving; Technical support staff, hackers, lecturers ,data entry clerks, system administrators and in some cases software developers who are usually called in incase of any problems encountered with the System performance. Cases of Result alterations were identified in University of Elderot (Daily Nation 2015 March 2015) where students with low marks had their marks increased while students with supplementary papers were indicated to have done special exams. Those who scored 40% were elevated to 60% or even more.

Problem statement cont.… Another case was where a student failed an exam with 44% and her mark altered to 71%, also some students who had qualified, and had been cleared to graduate then discovered that their names did not appear on the final list.(BBC News 2015 Feb 11) . Though disciplinary committees have been set up, investigations carried out and disciplinary action taken like; dismissal of staff involved in alteration of students results and suspension of students involved in this act for a given period as reported in Daily Monitor 2015,March 13, this problem has persisted.

Problem statement cont.. And If it continues, Universities and higher institutions will continue to lose their credibility, employers will lose trust in the quality of products or students produced for the job market and, graduates will continue to lack job market skills since the marks given do not match their ability to perform as observed by the Inter-university council for East Africa (IUCEA) (University World News 2015 February 13). There has been limited research to empirically examine the gaps that exist in the student result management systems and how Marks alterations can be stopped.

Problem statement cont.. This research therefore seeks to investigate the effectiveness of the current Education Management Information Systems that manage student’s results in higher institutions of learning with a view of identifying gaps that lead to alteration of students’ results. The study also seeks to fill the identified gaps by development of a secure framework that will help in integrating an electronic verification system to provide unique verification codes to coordinate student’s results in higher institutions of learning.

Objectives To review the effectiveness of Education Management Information Systems and how Institutions utilize them in managing students results in Higher Institutions of learning. To design a framework that will effectively Manage Students Results in Higher Institutions of Learning in Uganda.

Methodology The researcher used descriptive survey design including qualitative and quantitative methods. Descriptive survey design was adopted due to its appropriateness in seeking to obtain relevant information that describes existing phenomena and to find facts that yield accurate information (Gay 1992).

Findings A lot of trust has been put in data clerks, system administrators, Lecturers and other administrators handling student examination, results, leaving room for alterations of students marks. Change of a students’ retake marks to a higher pass mark exists Students retake marks are posted as specials Students bribe (monetary and in kind) their lecturers to alter results. Lecturers ask for bribes (monetary and in kind) from students to alter results

Findings Students with genuine results are deleted from the graduation lists for reasons unknown. Current students results management systems don’t have external controls to monitor update of students results Students and external forces hack into results management systems and change results. Students marks are uplifted for purposes of appearing on the graduation list Lecturers award marks to students who have already dropped out of the course External systems support officers also participate in the alteration of students results (some times they connive with systems administrators for institutions)

Conclusion Education Management Systems are too exposed to the hands of systems administrators and when they decide to act unethically alteration of students results takes place. The current Education Management Systems lack external controls to monitor whether the updates made in the system are genuine or not Alteration of students results involves lecturers, students, technical and support staff

Recommendations Unique codes should be allocated to students in the system and each time an attempt in altering student’s marks is made, the system sends the code number to the authorizing body in charge of student’s results management and copies sent to relevant authorities on the committee. Incase permission is granted messages are sent back to the staff attempting the alteration with key details of alterations to be made clarifying whether it is genuine or not. Providing security of information about student profile and academic result that are kept in the database and Addition of marks and calculating total marks of all subjects.

Recommendations cont.. Management of higher institutions of learning like Universities should put measures to get rid of the loopholes that have resulted into marks alterations. Transparent recruitment processes for lecturers and administrative staff in order to emphasize teaching and employee ethics. Lecturers need a moral re-awakening to ethics of their profession and their place in nation building and desist from such practices like marks alteration. School authorities should open communication channels where students can ventilate their grievances to report the unethical behavior of their tutors such as sexual harassment, soliciting of money from students with intensions for marks alterations

Future work Some security components of the Education system should be remotely managed by various experts who do not have offices within the University premises, this will help eliminate any contacts with students.

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