Assuring Quality in Ugandan Universities during COVID-19

Abstract

The Corona Virus Pandemic sparked a crisis across many sectors of the economy. The virus led to the closure of many sectors including education. In Uganda, the education sector was closed for 22 months leaving many children and schools stranded on how to learn and deliver education services. The higher education sector reacted by introducing online learning. Since to many online learning was a crisis response, the transition was abrupt, thus calling for an investigation into the quality of education offered by universities during COVID-19. We interrogate the learners’ experience with online learning with a view to understanding the extent to which quality standards were maintained. Understanding how the learning experience can lead to improved design of future online programs and avoid the crisis in the education program delivery system. We collected both qualitative and quantitative data using questionnaires sent to students online. A sample was conveniently drawn from students who studied online during COVID-19. The sample consisted of both students undertaking undergraduate and post-graduate training at various levels. Our findings indicated that the majority of students were not well trained to undertake the online program, institutional support was also limited during online training and students indicated that online training can be better delivered if universities provide adequate training to students and invest in infrastructure development.