Students crowd banks as university rolls out digital payment system

Written by: 
DAN BOSCO MUTAAWE

 

 

Banks at Makerere University are crowded with long queues as students are paying tuition and other university requirements using the new university digital e-payment system. Centenary, Stanbic, and DFCU banks are some of the most affected banks with majority students spotted spread outside as spaces inside banks are limited.

 

This come the university rolls out a new digital payment system, the Academic Information Management System (AIMS), built to track students’ payments immediately the money is deposited on the university account in the bank.

 

 

According to the Directorate for Information Communication Technology Support, all Makerere University students are required to first generate a reference number from the new platform before visiting the university authorized tuition collection banks to deposit their tuition.

 

DICTS explained that registering on AIMS is when students become recognized members of the university and can only generate the payment reference after having been enrolled. However, being a new system, many students are not aware of how to go about it and seek for assistance from their leaders in the university.

 

According to Ms Sarah Namukasa, an attendant in DFCU bank Makerere branch, they have in the recent past received many clients than usual. She attributed the big numbers to the newly introduced AIMS.

 

“We have to first enroll them especially new students before receiving their money. It is not our role but being that they are our clients, we are obliged to help them,” Namukasa told journalism@mak.

 

Students speak out

 

Edith Nakyambadde, a Bachelor of Social Science student found standing in the line at Centenary Bank says that it takes one over three hours standing in the line before being attended to.

 

"It has taken me two hours here and I think I will be here for another hour," Nakyambadde narrated. She attributes the delays to unreliable network at some banks. 

 

 “Banks have got a few workers who also use a low speed," Lillian Nabasirye, a Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration student recounted.