KAMPALA, UGANDA – Makerere University has launched a Staff and Student Attendance Management System, aimed at improving performance management, accountability, and transparency. The system, launched by the Chairperson of Council, Mrs. Lorna Magara, on May 3, 2024, is expected to revolutionize the university’s governance and academic freedom.
“So as we embrace this biometric system, I invite you to recognize the collective benefit it brings to Makerere University,” said Mrs. Magara, urging all staff and students to embrace the system. “We have carefully considered the multifaceted roles that staff, especially faculty, engage in both on and off-campus. The Council has therefore provided clear guidance to Management on allowances and authorisations that must be in place to enable faculty fulfil their functions.”
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The system is expected to improve service delivery, institutional ratings, and visibility. “The attendance management system is only a fraction of the more comprehensive and holistic approach that the University Council is undertaking to strengthen performance management,” said Mrs. Magara. “In the current and future budgeting and other resource allocation processes, the Council prioritizes the acquisition of tools that enable the staff to perform and the students to learn effectively and in a conducive manner.”
The system, developed in-house by the Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS), uses biometric devices and facial recognition technology to monitor staff and student attendance. It also integrates with existing systems, such as the Academic Management Information System (ACMIS) and the electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS).
“We must run our university professionally, and the best way to do it is by going digital in every way possible,” said Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the Vice Chancellor. “The advent of the system should be received with happiness by all staff and students. We have digitalised other activities such as human resources management, data repository, academic records and processes, research management, and pray that all business processes would have been completed by the end of 2024.”
The Director Human Resources, Mr. Tayari Deus Mujuni, commended the system’s ability to provide human resource analytics, which will enable the university to measure staff performance and accountability. “If we continually generate these analytics, it becomes easy for us to know the teaching load, to follow up on requests for staff appointments in terms of how many staff you have and how many staff you need,” he said. “The audit query will not arise again because we will have the evidence of all staff in attendance and account the funds that Government has contributed in terms of wage.”
The Student Guild President, Vincent Lubega Nsamba, represented by his Minister for Information, Research, and Computer Technology, Hon. Emojong Kisaija Harman, welcomed the system and expressed the students’ readiness to participate in its rollout. “We as the Students Guild are optimistic that this initiative and the system being launched today will improve service delivery to students with regard to teaching,” said Emojong.
The system’s implementation is expected to be phased, with the first phase focusing on staff and students in the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS). The university plans to extend the system to other colleges and departments in the future.
