A total of 491 Makerere University students will graduate with first-class degrees during the institution’s week-long graduation ceremony, which begins on Monday.
In an interview with KFM, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Professor Mukadasi Buyinza stated that 13,659 students (7,297 females and 6,363 males) have been cleared to graduate.
Of these, 11,463 are bachelor’s students, 140 are PhD students, and 1,813 are master’s students. Additionally, 243 students will receive postgraduate diplomas, and eight will graduate with undergraduate diplomas.
According to Professor Buyinza, the 491 students graduating with first-class degrees achieved CGPAs between 4.40 and 5.0, making them the top students in their respective programs and colleges.
Professor Buyinza, who also serves as the Academic Registrar, explained that the university has a talent identification scheme to retain and train its brightest students, who consistently achieve top performance in their programs.
“The university has a talent identification scheme to retain and train the brightest students who excel in their programmes. While constrained by the wage bill, we maintain their details in our database for future reference,” Prof. Buyinza explained.
He explained that the university aims to retain and train these students to become academic staff and researchers. However, due to budget constraints, they will be kept in a database for future consideration.
Among those graduating with first-class degrees, Abdul Latif Umar Bagoole from Makerere University Business School (MUBS), a Bachelor of Leisure and Hospitality Management student, achieved the highest CGPA at 4.97. Enock Joel Mubiru, a Bachelor of Science student, achieved the highest performance in science programs.
Students from the College of Education and External Studies (CEES), the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS), the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-Security (CoVAB), and the School of Law (SoL) will graduate on Monday.