By Ritah Kemigisa
The government chief Whip Thomas Tayebwa has called for the scrapping of graduation fees at Makerere University and all public universities.
Officiating at the launch of activities to mark 100 years of the University’s existence , Tayebwa said the extra fees paid for graduation is a burden to both the students and parents after struggling to pay tuition fees for all the years of study for the various courses.
He says it is unfair for a student to fail to graduate or get a transcript because they did not pay graduation fees.
“I come to the university, I get an admission, I pay fees, I pass exams, what I expect at the end of the day is a report and in this case it is graduation. How can you tell me that I will not graduate or even get a transcript and yet I studied and even paid fees,” said Mr Tayebwa.
He is now proposing that such fees are embedded in the tuition fees paid so that the burden is not felt directly.
Meanwhile the University Vice Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has called for more partnerships as the University gears up to celebrate 100 years of it’s existence.
According to Prof Nawangwe , the 100years have been a remarkable journey of touching lives, training and nurturing human resources in different fields and disciplines and making the world a better place through significant contributions to human and social transformation.
Nawangwe says they are now set for the next century of service as they continue building the future.
The centennial commemoration events are running under the theme “Leveraging 100 years of excellence in Building a transformational society”
Makerere University was established in 1922 and it has over 300,000 alumni who are spread across the globe.
