MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Welcome to this 2 nd edition of the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board E-Newsletter. This publication continues to be a source of information on UBTEB activities, programmes and initiatives. UBTEB has had a series of activities and events in this quarter covering the months of April, May and June 2018. A good part of this newsletter covers the core activity of the Board which is the conduct of examinations for Business, Technical and specialized programmes conducted in the months of May and June 2018.
UBTEB has continued to build its collaborations with key stakeholders in various ways. In this period we have been able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Institute of Certified public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) to boost accountancy professional skills development.
UBTEB and ICPAU agreed to collaborate and undertake activities in different areas such as Promotion of accountancy professional training and assessment aimed at enhancing competitiveness of the learners and ultimately the graduates, Organizing and conducting accountancy examinations at Certificate and Diploma levels, Conducting research to enhance competiveness and delivery of institutional mandates and joint projects, Providing BTVET graduates with an avenue for access, progression and continued learning in accountancy and other fields.
The Board had a number of stakeholder engagement activities such as Feedback workshop, consultative meetings among others, The Board hosted a team from Malawi assessment body to share experiences on Competence based Assessment and devise means of working together. It is our aspiration that the continuous engagement with our local, regional and international stakeholders will give UBTEB an edge over its mandate to match with the current world assessment tides.
I would like to thank UBTEB staff and our stakeholders for contributing towards the success achieved in this quarter. We are always pleased to interact with you
EDITORIAL

I am delighted to bring you yet another edition of the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board Newsletter, the 2 nd  edition to be specific. So many great events and initiatives have happened in this period of April to June 2018. Our first newsletter was very well received by members and a wide range of stakeholders. It is their valuable feedback among other factors that has motivated us to invest our effort into the second edition.  
 
Once again we are bringing you the latest developments within the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board. 
 
In this edition, we share major events that happened in UBTEB and also critical information through circulars from the Ministry of Education and Sports and National Curriculum Development Center. The edition covers major events such as conduct of May/June 2018 Examinations, overview of the trainings offered to stakeholders, different collaborations achieved by the Board with stakeholders, a brief on commissioned Research Study by the Board on poor performance in English and Mathematics, feedback workshop, and consultative meetings among others. In this issue, still we bring you a featured article on Examinations Malpractices and how best they can be detected. 
 
The Editorial Team would like to thank the staff who have contributed to this second edition of the Newsletter.
 
We are keen to respond to the interests of our readers and look forward to your feedback and comments on this second edition by reaching to the editorial team at  info@ubteb.go.ug or call 0392002468.

Enjoy the second Edition!
Lillian Nakawala Kyagaba
On behalf of the Editorial Team
23,560 CANDIDATES SAT FOR UBTEB MAY/JUNE 2018 EXAMINATIONS

Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) successfully conducted its 14 th Examinations series for 23,560 students registered from 173 examination centresacross the country. The examinations started on Monday 21 st  May 2018 to 15 th June 2018. The briefing of candidates for phase one Technical examinations was done in the whole country on Friday 18 th May 2018.
 
The Board registered an increase in the number of candidates from 15,651candidates in May/June 2017 examination series to 23,560 candidatesof May/June 2018 examination series representing a 50.5% increase.    Read More ...


UBTEB JOINED OTHER HEADS OF EXAMINATIONS COUNCILS AND BOARDS OF THE EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES TO FORM EASTERN AFRICA ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT (EAAEA)

The Executive Secretary of UBTEB together with the Principal Officer in charge of Research, Policy and Quality assurance attended a three day meeting in Tanzania for heads of Examinations Council of the East African countries. The event was hosted by the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) from 23-25th April 2018. Read More
UBTEB PARTNERS WITH ICPAU TO BOAST ACCOUNTANCY PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT 
The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Institute of Certified public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) on Wednesday 29th May 2018 at UBTEB Secretariat.
The MOU has the following Priority areas of cooperation. UBTEB and ICPAU agree to collaborate and undertake activities in the following areas;

a) Promotion of accountancy professional training and assessment aimed at enhancing competitiveness of the learners and ultimately the graduates;

b) Conducting joint curriculum design, development and review of certificate and diploma accountancy programmes;

c) Organizing and conducting accountancy examinations at Certificate and Diploma levels.

d) Conducting research to enhance competiveness and delivery of institutional mandates and delivery of joint projects;

e) Organizing joint training and capacity building programmes for skills development with focus on learner, employee and employer needs;

g) Providing BTVET graduates with an avenue for access, progression and continued learning in accountancy and other fields.
 
According to Oyesigye Onesmus UBTEB Executive Secretary, the MOU with ICPAU will go a long way to address the issues of ensuring smooth career progression of students who enroll for certificate and Diploma programmes in UBTEB accredited centres in the whole country and ICPAU’s partner Universities. “Am glad to note that with the signing of MOU with ICPAU, it will give UBTEB graduates an added advantage to progress easily from Certificate level to Degree level to become professional Certified Public Accountants.” Oyesigye stated. With ICPAU, programmes content at Certificate and Diploma level will be harmonized to make them standard hence allowing a common platform for course exemptions while pursuing the Certified Public Accountants papers.
In addition to this, ICPAU will present students of Accountants Technician Diploma course offered all over the country to UBTEB for National Assessment. This is a good step forward in streamlining the assessment component so as to realize standardization of awards as envisaged in the BTVET Act 2008.  Read More ...

“Setting Pace for Quality Assessment”
UBTEB HOLDS 4 TH  ANNUAL FEEDBACK WORKSHOP
As part of the strategic focus of the Board, every year a feedback workshop is organized in order to consolidate our commitment to effective and efficient examinations management systems. The Board invited different key strategic partners to attend a one day feedback workshop on 13th April 2018 at Arch Apartments in Kampala-Uganda. The workshop was officially opened by the Undersecretary MOE&S Mr.Aggrey Kibenge who represented the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education and Sports Mr. Alex Kakoza.


The workshop’s overall objective was to provide feedback to key stakeholders on the conduct of UBTEB’S examinations series of May/JUNE 2017 and Nov/Dec 2017 and was intended to address a few challenges that were faced during the conduct of Examinations, Industrial Training, Real Life projects and Coursework/Continuous Assessment among other issues. Also, the workshop was aimed at providing best practices to boost competence based assessment by UBTEB and all stakeholders. Read More ...

KEY HIGHLIGHTS BY THE PERMANENT SECRETARY MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS

The Permanent Secretary said that he has taken note of the efforts of the Board towards public awareness in regard to the Circular/5/2017/HTI issued on streamlining accreditation and assessment of Post ‘O’ Level Certificate programmes.  Read More ...


 The Executive Secretary UBTEB made the following key highlights;

The Board has put in place an effective EIMS and this has enabled the Board to carry out online registration for candidates starting with Nov/Dec 2017 examinations. The Board carried phase one of the training of Academic registrars on online registration and will train others this year
  1. In the Circular of November 20-17 issued by the Permanent Secretary MOE&S on accreditation and assessment of Post O’ and A Level Business Education programmes, UBTEB was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring compliance in liaison with other relevant agencies like DES,BTVET,NCHE. Specifically, the circular highlights on the closure of one year certificate. The Board has put in place harmonised examination syllabi for all two year certificate courses after the harmonisation workshop with principals and Registrars. 

  2. Policy reforms: The TVET Council will be implemented this year by MOES and UBTEB is better positioned and ready to implement the reforms towards efficient and effective quality assessment.
  3.  
  4. The Board has recruited more experienced, technical and professional staff in key positions of the Board. We hope to put our energies together to deliver to our customers. Recently we recruited two managers in areas of Vocational and Technical Education.
  5.  
  6. Our online presence and communication platforms are functional for immediate feedback. Our website and social media platforms are effective avenues we use to reach our stakeholders 24/7.
  7.  
  8. The Board currently has accredited a total of 577 training institutions with equally increasing students numbers in Business, Technical ,Vocational and other specialised professions
  9.  
  10. Successfully conducted and released results of the November/December 2017 examination series.
  11.  
  12. We have noted cases of malpractice by students and we appreciate the Heads of Centre for the vigilance and cooperation in the effort to ensure smooth conduct of examinations. As a Board we pledge our full commitment to work with you in accordance with regulations to stamp out this vice.
  13.  
  14. The board is in the final stages of signing MoUs with ICPAU and USSIA and these are targeted stakeholders to boost competence based assessment and training. ICPAU will enable UBTEB graduates to have easy upward career progression and at the same time UBTEB will conduct examinations for ICPAU’s Accountants Technician Diploma course.
  15.  
  16. UBTEB Land: The Ministry has given UBTEB an arce of land to construct a permanent home/Assessment Centre
  17.  
  18. Transcripts: All backlogs (i.e. for retakers) will be issued on request otherwise transcripts have been issued up to May/June 2017.


The Executive Secretary appealed to the participants to;

  1. To observe registration deadlines: We aim at achieving 100% successful registration of candidates with in the stipulated deadlines for better planning and implementation of other examination processes per series. May/June 2018 circular is out and deadline is 18th April 2018
  2.  
  3. To support Partnerships: The Board is creating all possible linkages with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we attain effective and efficient quality systems that are up to date with global standards. With your support and cooperation we shall maximize our potential to continue serving diligently to meet our expectations.
  4.  
  5. To take note of the changes in the duration of all post O’level certificate from one to two years. Also note that these programmes must be assessed by the nationally mandated examination bodies.

BRIEFING OF EXAMINATIONS’ MANAGERS IN DIFFERENT REGIONS

The Board carried out a regional briefing of Examination Managers (Area Coordinators and Center Supervisor) who were involved in the management of the May-June 2018 examinations series. The briefing was intended to highlight the key issues that arise during the examination process like;
(i) Handling of materials from the time they are delivered up to the time they are the picked.
(ii) How to handle malpractice cases
(iii) Roles of each examinations manager
(iv) Selection and deployment of supervisors
The Briefing was regionally conducted in Central Region, Western Region, Eastern Region and Northern Region on 9 th  May 2018. This briefing included center Supervisors with the aim of enabling easy coordination during the conduct of examinations.
UBTEB EXECUTIVE SECRETARY HAILS STUDENTS OF UGANDA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE SOROTI
L-R; Onesmus Oyesigye, ES/UBTEB, BTVET official, Principal UCC Soroti and Chief guest Mr. Mugerwa James, Assistant Commissioner Vocational education at the ceremony
The executive secretary said that he was pleased and honored to witness the 9 th graduation of candidates who successfully completed studies in different Academic disciplines.  Read More
UBTEB HELD STAKEHOLDERS’ CONSULTATIVE MEETING ON STANDARDISATION OF ASSESSMENT OF POST O’LEVEL CERTIFICATE AND POST A’LEVEL PROGRAMMES ON 11TH MAY 2018 AT SILVER SPRINGS HOTEL, BUGOLOBI.
Uganda Business and Technical Examinations (UBTEB) organized a one day stakeholders’ consultative meeting on 11th May 2018 at Silver Springs hotel, Bugolobi. The Ministry of Education and Sports issued a circular in November 2017 on streamlining the accreditation and assessment of Post O’level and Post A’ level Business programmes in Uganda. As part of the implementation of the circular, BTVET and UBTEB as indicated in the circular have put in place mechanisms to carry out accreditation of programmes and assessment respectively. This meeting focused on streamlining the BTVET delivery, training and awards in Uganda in line with the BTVET Act 2008.  Read More ...
UBTEB TRAINED 439 ACADEMIC REGISTRARS ON ONLINE REGISTRATION

As a way of enabling effective and efficient examinations management processes and systems, the Board rolled out online registration in 2017. The Board organized and conducted training of Academic Registrars from Technical/Vocational institutions, Uganda Community Polytechnics and all Training institutions that were not trained in phase one on 29th-31st May 2018 across the whole country.
The training was conducted at eight regional training centres including UTC-Kichwamba, Kyambogo University, CCP Mbale, Pioneer technical Institute-Iganga, UCC soroti, UTC-Lira and Arua Technical Institute-Ragem.   Read More ...
UBTEB ACQUIRES LAND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UBTEB ASSESSMENT CENTER

On 13th April 2018, the Permanent Secretary MOES on clearance by the Minister of Education and Sports allocated one acre piece of land in Kyambogo hill. Mr. Aggrey Kibenge on behalf of the Permanent Secretary handed over the land to UBTEB in presence of the Board Chairperson Prof.Venansius Baryamureeba, Commissioner BTVET and other officials from MOE&S.

According to Executive Secretary Onesmus Oyesigye, the Board will embark on construction of the UBTEB Assessment centre by 2018/2019. The allocation of land by the MOES is a big milestone towards effective performance by the Board in terms of the available space for operational purposes and hence reducing on the huge expenditure on 3 rented premises. He stated that the UBTEB Assessment Centre shall be built in phases to pave way for immediate occupancy. Read More ...

FEATURED ARTICLES
 
EXAMINATIONS MALPRACTICES
 
Examination is one of the major means of assessing and evaluating students’ or learners’ skills, knowledge and attitude in both general and specific areas of studies. It is a crucial mode of assessment of the learner’s mastery of certain required significant corpus of knowledge.  Read More ...

STRATEGIES STUDENTS USE IN EXAMINATIONS MALPRACTICE

  • Collaborative cheating. In this way, the colleague is willing to participate in the scheme. He or she allows their work to be copied.
  • Students sit in V-formation which makes it easier to look at someone else’s paper.
  • Wandering eyes and whispering.
  • Students observing the supervisor carefully and pretends to pay attention.
  • Too much Confidence.
  • Tactical deployment where students position themselves in relation to others.
  • Students using signals to receive communication and answers to and from others.
  • Ordinary Objects like having a cheat sheet in the pen 
  • Eyes which do not stay on their own papers. They provide a perfect angle for peeking at a neighbor’s answers.
  • Distracting the supervisor for example asking questions about clarity of the questions. Clarification on a ridiculously obvious point.
  • Repeated coughs to convey answers to one another from across the room. This draws attention to them.
  • Students who take bathroom breaks and they end up going too long.
  • Students who are not free most especially with their hands, this shows that they wrote on their hands.
  • Students getting the same scores in an exam. This is detected in seating locations and identical scores.
NCDC ALIGNS THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP MODULE FOR NATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN SECRETARIAL AND OFFICE MANAGEMENT

National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has and is still reviewing the syllabus for National Certificate in Secretarial and Office Management (NCSM). Copies of this curriculum have been circulated as soft copies to institutions for piloting so that institutions can provide feedback of its suitability to the intended certificate level of training. The Executive Director of NCDC said that it has been realised that the module for Entrepreneurship skills is appearing in the first year of study yet in other courses where the module has similar content, it is taught in the second year.
 
Training institutions are therefore informed that the entrepreneurship skills module should be taught and assessed in the second year and not in the first year as indicated in the pilot curriculum for National Certificate in Secretarial and Office Management. A circular was shared in this regard and it can still be accessed at UBTEB.

UBTEB STARTS ISSUING 2014-2015 CERTIFICATES

The Board is pleased to inform the public that certificates for candidates whose entry is 2014-2015 are ready for picking. Students are encouraged to contact heads of training institutions to pick their certificates.

The Board by end of June 2018 had uncollected certificates of over 100 training institutions. As a result the Board going forward shall always publish the names of institutions with ready certificates on all platforms for easier and quicker response.

The Board argues all candidates that successfully completed their studies to keep in contact with their respective heads of center for any updates on the issue of certificates for all candidates that completed in the years 2016 to date. The Board shall endeavor to post all the key updates on the website an on our social media platforms. For details of institutions with certificates for picking as at 30 th  June 2018, follow this link on our website; http://www.ubteb.go.ug/media/over-100-ubteb-accredited-training-institutions-have-not-picked-students-certificates
 
UBTEB COMMENCED RESEARCH ON POOR PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH AND MATHEMATICS UNDER THE UCPCS
Mathematics and English are one of the most important school subjects in the curriculum worldwide. Equally, in Uganda, Mathematics and English are given all the necessary importance in the curriculum and all policies related to education right from primary to higher levels.

The two subjects are important because of their widespread application in the daily lives of individuals and communities. Intuitively, these subjects have direct relationship with other subjects, particularly technical and sciences. Mathematics and English are offered as compulsory subjects at Primary, Ordinary Secondary, Technical and Vocational levels. Also, these subjects are emphasized during admissions most especially in Uganda Community Certificate (UCPC) and National technical craft programs. Read More ...

By Lillian Nakawala Kyagaba
Research and Policy Officer

STREAMLINING ACCREDITATION AND ASSESSMENT OF POST O’LEVEL AND A’LEVEL PROGRAMMES IS A BIG STEP TOWARDS QUALITY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN UGANDA
In summary: In 2016, one student Sarah not real name after senior four joined one tertiary institution for certificate and later progressed and obtained a diploma awarded by the same institution. Sarah applied to do a degree at Multitech Business School and they requested her to submit certified academic documents and she ended up at UBTEB. UBTEB could not certify her documents and advised her to go her former institution for certification or go back and enroll for programmes that are nationally recognized. Sarah lost four years of her academic journey. The institution was operating outside the governing laws and regulations.

Like Sarah, there are many Ugandans moving around with fake Certificates and Diplomas awarded from unrecognized tertiary institutions. The scenario of fake post O’Level awards is no more with the establishment of assessment bodies by government of Uganda. Before the establishment of assessment bodies, many training institutions offering diplomas and certificate would teach, conduct examinations and awards Transcripts and certificate. This had a wide range of issues ranging from quality assurance issues, standardization issues and equating such qualifications. As a result the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOE&S) a put in place the Business, technical and Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) Act 20018 which among other things proposed establishment of examinations boards with mandate to conduct, regulate, streamline, coordinate and award certificate and Diploma as well as accrediting training institutions as examination centres.

Specifically, Government established 3 examinations boards  Read More ...

By Kambaho Narasi Anyijuka
Senior Information and Communication Officer
UBTEB ESTABLISHES SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION UNIT
BTEB has established a special needs and inclusive education Unit under Planning and Development purposely to cater for special needs students. We believe that disability is not inability and endeavor to bring students with special needs on board for national assessment to enable them acquire competent skills that can help them compete in the labour market.   Read More ...
 


By Ayebazibwe Allen - Examinations officer Special Needs Education