How students’ grades evolved by Kyambogo University’s IT team
How students’ grades evolved by Kyambogo University’s IT team
Thus far, two ICT employees at Kyambogo University have been implicated in the falsification of grades for four students, according to a joint police and university administration inquiry.
According to YUDAYA NANGONZI, the impacted students would be unable to attend this year’s 19th graduation, which takes place on Wednesday and ends on Friday.
According to the initial results, a female student who needed to repeat an exam approached the two ICT staff members to have her grades changed so she could graduate. Three other students came in with similar requests, but the staff changed their marks anyway—for a price.
The personnel was offered less than Shs 1 million to complete the assignment, according to sources with knowledge of the investigations conducted by the academic registrar and the deputy vice chancellor overseeing Academic Affairs.
“An ICT employee who was not involved in the incident was initially boldly asked by the female student to modify her grades, but he declined.” He suggested that she repeat the exam. This compelled management to keep an eye on the system at all times in case more ICT employees made requests of a similar nature. The source stated that after two weeks, the university discovered that additional ICT employees had altered the grades of several students.
When asked how the two ICT employees could be easily identified, the source cited the two-factor authentication feature of the university’s Academic Management Information System (ACMIS). In this configuration, the system recognizes the user who logs in and maintains audit trails of all actions taken by each ICT employee, including reading, deleting, and amending data.
The academic system’s login locations, devices, and web browsers can all be verified by the system. Thus far, preliminary audit trails have verified that the two male employees who are suspected of manipulating the student outcomes. Additionally, they falsely upgraded one student’s award level from a second-class upper degree to a first-class.
The two employees made all of the changes inside of their university ICT offices, according to the Internet Protocol (IP) address on the system.
HOW ALTERATIONS WERE MADE To ensure that only ICT personnel were using the system, two-factor authentication was added. Should an individual wish to modify a student’s grades, they must submit a request for a “change of marks” update via the system.
In order to verify an individual’s identification, the system provides ICT professionals with a token number that can be accessed via phone, SMS, or email address connected to their ACMIS account. The investigators identified employees who were given tokens on specific dates when results were tampered with unlawfully.
Additionally, the two employees were authorized to transfer student data from the previous system to the current one. Thus, they exploited these privileges to manipulate the financial offers made to them by other students who had already received approval, according to the source.
The source further stated that in order to support the current investigations, the two staff members’ ACMIS accounts have subsequently been disabled.
VC KYAMBOGO SPEAKS The vice chancellor of Kyambogo University, Prof. Eli Katunguka, announced the suspension of the two ICT employees and the four impacted students in his pre-graduation speech to the media on Monday.
He claimed that once a student whistleblower brought the issue to the attention of the administration, the six offenders were apprehended. According to Katunguka, the two employees may face disciplinary action, which may include termination from the university, if they are proven guilty.
When the initial grades from the Heads of Departments (HoDs) didn’t match those on the ACMIS system, the university administration also consented to remove the modified results. Regarding the graduating students, the HODs have the last say. Katunguka claims that the original copies were essential in locating further students who had altered their grades.
For the time being, the institution is thinking of carrying out a thorough audit of every student’s results to ascertain the degree of mark manipulation.
