Victoria University Signs Laptop Deal with Stanbic Bank to Support New Exams System

Victoria University Students who are unable to study online due to a shortage of laptops will now benefit from a deal between the campus and Stanbic Bank Uganda, signed today.

The students will acquire laptops in a deal that will also support a complete transition to online learning, including being examined online.

The MOU comes after the University has just acquired the Charter last week

Stanbic Bank team was led by Emma Mugisha, the executive Director and head business financing while Victoria University was represented by Dr. Lawrence Muganga Vice Chancellor.

Victoria University has changed how the setting and sitting of examinations in universities should be handled under the authentic examination assessment process.

Everyone who has in the past been at university, or has sent children to university, knows about exams consisting of multiple-choice questions or questions requiring you to recall whatever was provided in the lecturer’s notice and other books, in just the space of an hour or two, handwriting the answers.

Many of them probably wondered how the test showed what they could do or how these examinations applied to real life.

These exams are part of the traditional assessment systems, which the university has abandoned in their higher education assessment of learners.

‘’As part of our plans to acquire the charter, we had already revolutionized the assessment (examination process) to ensure that all examination papers are done online, and students are tasked with applying knowledge of real-world experiences in their answers to the examinations. We have abandoned the old system of examining students, based on recalling the memorized notes from lecturers and books’’, said officials from Victoria University.

‘’Real life requires students to apply knowledge and not regurgitate crammed theories. It is for the same reason that at Victoria, classwork and practical learning account for a higher percentage of the assessment, say 70% (or slightly less), and examinations account for 30% (or slightly more)’’, said Victoria University vice chancellor, Dr. Lawrence Muganga.

He added that they are securing these laptops in the MoU with Stanbic Bank to help their students effectively access our Learning Management system, which handles the teaching and examining of students.

‘’We also managed to set up a very effective, interactive, and seamless Learning Management System that you will not find in any university or academic institution on the African continent; and we call it VClass. The NCHE team of inspectors (NCHE) has on several occasions scrutinized it and the latest report scored it at 81.9% for its effectiveness in being used in teaching and assessment of students and other related functions it holds’’, he noted.

The University officials revealed that they are changing the examination process to make examinations more meaningful. The biggest argument against traditional testing is that it does not provide learners with a meaningful way to show understanding and comprehension.

Authentic assessments need to solve that problem by being meaningful.

Meaningful for a learner is when the learner sees real value in the assessment because it prepares him or her for the real work environment.

Authentic examinations or assessments involve real-world problem solving that allows learners to demonstrate their skills, by applying them to the task.

‘’Their examinations are as close to real-world situations as possible, or even a real-world situation. If students can demonstrate their abilities by applying them to a problem they might see in reality, it is more meaningful for the learner and the assessor’’, said Muganga.

Officials say examination system is critical to learners because it allows them to show what they have learned by applying it to scenarios that they could face in real life.

Victoria University’s examination system allows students who do not demonstrate enough in the initial assessment to try it again and use a different approach. A student might be able to solve the problem differently, or they might be able to present the results again if the presentation was the point of the problem.