Assessing academic records management practices at Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology

Abstract

The study assessed the management of academic records practices; a case of Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology, UICT. It was guided by the objectives such as to; identify the types of academic records, establish the skill level of records management staff, examine the current academic records management practices, identify the challenges faced in the management of the academic records and propose the solutions for strengthening the academic records management practices at UICT. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied where necessary in data collection, presentation and analysis. The qualitative data were also converted into figures and presented inform of pie-chart, however some findings were analyzed quantitatively. The researcher was assisted by use of data collection instruments in which the respondents answered questions basing on interview guide. Document review guide and observation guides were also used. The sampling method used was purposive sampling because respondents were selected on the basis of their relevance on the research questions. A sample size of 28 participants were determined by Krejcie, R, V and Morgan technique from a population of 30 staff.

The categories of respondents were the administrative staff, records staff and records management related teaching staff at UICT. The study revealed that the higher percentage of respondents were familiar with the topic under study and the academic records was predominantly based on paper and partly (digital) electronic media: the study revealed that 80% of records were paper based and were kept in the records storage equipment such as storage boxes, box files, open metallic shelves, cupboard and filing cabinets. Server, computer system