Mountains of the Moon University

Introduction

This Course is intended to meet the increasing demands of the Ugandan and East-African financial sector for well-trained branch- and middle managers to provide microfinance services and expand the range of products, particularly to meet the demand of rural populations. This course attracts both local and international students in the region.

The curriculum for this course is founded on three thematic “pillars”;

The Microfinance (MF) customer - the course draws on the latest literature (“Portfolios of Poor”) to understand the use of MF services by low-income-households. Moreover, it draws on the comparative advantage of working closely with the school’s department of social and community development and the university’s school of agriculture to impart students with a profound knowledge of the profiles of rural households, communities and their agricultural enterprises.

Organizations – theoretical background, evolution, strengths and weaknesses, legal/regulatory and policy context, growth potential of different organizations providing MF services.

Applied knowledge - principles of economics and economic development, banking and finance, aspects of group formation and dynamics, accounting, loan cycle and portfolio management, liquidity and financial management, operations and controlling.

 

Course Objective

The overall objective is to produce graduates with solid, applicable knowledge of rural demand for microfinance, the potential of service providers to respond to that demand, and management concepts for operating such providers.

 

Specific objectives

To produce MMU graduates fit for growing microfinance industry;

To equip students with the capability to progress as managers of MFI or bank outlets and departments;

To offer both basic and applied courses to other degree programs of MMU’s schools of business and management studies, agriculture and education respectively.

 

2.2 Attributes of the graduates

The program aims at producing graduates who can

(i)   Work as branch managers

(ii)  Cost and price existing microfinance products and conceive new ones

(iii)  Employ their skills in managing and developing rural MFIs, particularly SACCOs

(iv)  Offer practical solutions in issues related to agriculture finance

(v)   Work as middle managers

(vi)  Offer consultancy on issues related to microfinance

(vii) Teach microfinance courses in schools and colleges

(viii) Work as researchers in various fields related to microfinance

(ix) Work as apex officers (UCSCU, AMFIU)

 

Such graduates can be employed by the tier 4-MFIs, MDIs, credit institutions, banks, insurance companies, research institutions, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), co-operative unions, etc.

 

Course Mode

MMU executes this course under the semester system. The aim is to enable the institution be more cost effective in terms of time needed to complete the diploma program, flexibility among students in the course of pursuing the diploma, and meeting the market demand of a changing society. This course also allows part time students to transfer their credits from and to other institutions.

 

Course Entry

1. Course Duration 

The course runs for two (2) years; four (4) semesters on full time basis.

2. Admission process 

MMU is committed to equal opportunity and does not discriminate against qualified persons on the basis of sex, religion, color, nationality or ethnic origin in its admission policies. Nevertheless, admission at Mountains of the Moon University is a privilege and not a right.

Prospective applicants can apply through three avenues i.e.

1.      Direct entry

2.      Academic Certificate entry

3.      Mature age entry

Direct entry

Candidates who wish to obtain admission directly after advanced level secondary education must have obtained;

• The Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) or its equivalent with a minimum of a credit in mathematics and
• The Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) with a minimum of two principal passes in agriculture, mathematics or economics and

Minimum weighted points set by MMU Admission Board

 

In computing the weighted points, advanced level subjects are evaluated as follows;

Group	Weight	Subject
Essential	3	Economics, Mathematics
Relevant	2	Sub-mathematics, General Paper, Agriculture
Desirable	1	English
Others	0.5	All other subjects examined at advanced level

 

Points used in weighting follow the Uganda National Examination Board system i.e.

1.      Principal Level A = 6 points

2.      Principal Level B = 5 Points

3.      Principal Level C = 4 points

4.      Principal Level D = 3 points

5.      Principal Level E = 2 Points

Academic Certificate entry

Candidates with Academic Certificates of at least Second Class standing in business administration, public administration, rural microfinance, agriculture, or agricultural extension from local or international institutions can apply.

Mature age entry

Individuals with extensive industrial experience may be granted admission under the mature age entry scheme after passing the mature age entry examination.

 

3. Application procedure

Application forms are obtainable from the Registrar Academic’s office at the University premises in Fort Portal or regional offices (to be specified later) at a non refundable application fee of 10,000 Uganda shillings. Forms should be completed by intending applicants and returned to the Academic Registrar or respective regional office. The completed application form should be accompanied with;

• Photocopies of all academic certificates held by the applicant
• Completed health form (to be provided by the university)
• Four passport size photographs
• Signed code of conduct (to be provided by the university)
• Certified/confidential report from the last institution attended (for mature candidates only)

Program structure 

The instruction of course units under this course involves lectures, tutorials and practicals. Each course unit is evaluated using the Credit Unit (CU) as the weighting unit. A Credit Unit is equivalent to 1 Contact Hour (CH) in each week of a semester for a particular course unit. A contact hour is related to Lecture Hours (LH), Tutorial Hours (TH) and Practical Hours (PH) as follows;

• 1 Contact hour is equivalent to 1 lecture hour
• 1 Contact hour is equivalent to 1 tutorial hour
• 1 Contact hour is equivalent to 2 practical hours

A given intake for this course runs for 2 years with each year consisting of two semesters (17 weeks) and a 10 weeks recess term. The minimum and maximum course load per student per semester will be 15 and 25 credit units respectively.

 

Graduation requirement 

A candidate is awarded a Diploma of Rural Microfinance after completing a minimum of 142 credit units.

 

Assessment and grading system 

Assessment

Each course unit is assessed out of 100% as follows, unless otherwise indicated for selected course units (reason being a strong leaning to case study approach);

• Course work/progressive/continuous assessment: 40%
• End of semester examination: 60%

For purposes of quality assurance, the University has an arrangement of visiting external examiners to assess candidates at the end of each academic year.

Grading

Marks %	Letter grade	GPA
80-100	A	5.0
75-79.9	B+	4.5
70-74.9	B	4.0
65-69.9	B-	3.5
60-64.9	C+	3.0
55-59.9	C	2.5
50-54.9	C-	2.0
45-49.9	D+	1.5
40-44.9	D	1.0
35-39.9	D-	0.5
Below 35	E	0

The pass mark for each course is 50%

Degree classification 

Class	Cumulative GPA
First Class	4.40 - 5.00
Second class-Upper Division	3.60 - 4.39
Second class-Lower Division	2.80 - 3.59
Pass	2.00 – 2.79

CGPA calculation 

The following procedure is used in calculating the cumulative grade point average;

Calculate the grade point average for each course independently using the table in 6.2 above.

Using the results in 1 above, calculate the cumulative grade point average for courses taken in a semester using the formula;

 

n

Σ      GPA_i x CU_i

i = 1

CGPA   =

n

Σ      CU_i

i = 1

Where;

CGPA is the cumulative grade point average for a given semester

GPA: is the calculated independent grade point average for a given course in 1 above

CU: is the credit unit for a given course as indicated in the schedule of courses in 6.0 below

The final cumulative grade point average is an average of calculated grade point averages for all the 4 semesters allotted to the course.

Course Progression 

Progression of a student is classified as normal or probationary.

(i) Normal Progress

Normal progress occurs when the student has passed all required subjects. This happens when the student has passed each course with a minimum grade point of 2.0.

(ii) Probationary Progress

This is a warning stage, and occurs if;

1.      A student fails a course

2.      A student obtains a Cumulative Grade Points Average (CGPA) of less than two (2) at the end of any semester.

 

Re-taking a course 

There are no supplementary examinations in the semester system. When a student has to re-sit a course, he/she has to wait and re-sit that course, without penalty, when it is offered again. However, the student will have to pay the examination fee i.e. 10,000 Uganda shillings for Ugandans or USD 15 for non Ugandans. This fee may be revised from time to time. A candidate can retake a course in order to;

Pass it if he/she had failed it

Improve the grade obtained when it was previously done

When retaking the course;

a.       The student will redo the continuous assessment and end of semester examination

b.      The academic transcript shall indicate that the given course was retaken

 

Discontinuation 

A student is discontinued from the program if one of the following conditions occurs; -

• Receiving two probationary warnings on the same course
• Receiving two consecutive probations based on Cumulative Grade Point average
• Gross misbehavior not conducive to the well being of MMU

 

Withdrawal from the program 

Tuition can only be refunded to a student who withdraws from the program not later than 4 weeks after commencement of the academic year.  Such a student will have his/her tuition refunded as follows;

Period of withdrawal	% of tuition refunded
Before end of semester week 1	80
Between semester week 1 and 3	60
Between semester week 3 and 4	40
After semester week 4	0

 

Staff Responsible

 

No	Name	Title	Department	Qualification
1	Dr. Oliver Schmidt	Microfinance Consultant seconded by the German Development Service (GIZ)	Business	PHD
2	Mr. Muzigiti Geoffrey Baluku	Lecturer	Business	BBA, MBA
3	Mr. Kaija Mark	Lecturer	Business	Bsc(Math/Psy), MBA
4	Mr. Mpamizo Moses Ali	Lecturer	Business	Dip Educ, BED, MBA
5	Mr. Mugenyi Andrew	Lecturer	Business	Bsc Educ (Math, Econ), MBA, PHD (student)
6	Kakungulu Yunusu	Assistant Lecturer	Business	BCom, MBA (Student)
7	Kobugabe Christine	Assistant Lecturer	Business	BBA, MBA (student)

Course Structure

Code	Course	CU	LH	TH	PH	CH
YEAR I
Semester 1
DRMF 111	Microfinance Customers and Financial Instruments	3	30	10	30	45
DRMF 112	Introduction to Agricultural Enterprise and Extension	3	30	10	30	45
CCET 101	Introduction to Ethics	2	20	0	20	30
ICTN 100	Introduction to Computer Technology	2	20	0	20	30
DBMT 111	Principles of Accounting I	2	20	0	0	20
DBMT 212	Organizational Behavior	2	20	0	20	30
	Semester Credits	23	230	60	21	305
Semester 2
ICTN 101	Management Information Systems	3	30	0	30	45
DBMT 121	Accounting for Financial Institutions	2	20	0	20	30
DRMF 122	Principles of Banking and Finance	3	30	0	30	45
DRMF 123	Legal Framework for Financial Institutions in Uganda	3	30	0	30	45
DBMT 122	Business Communication and Office Practice	3	30	0	30	45
DBMT 123	Economics I	3	30	0	30	45
Recess Semester:    Business Placement 1		2	15	0	30	30
	Semester Credits	23	200	15	170	360
	Total First Year Credit Units	44	540	120	120	660
YEAR II
Semester 1
DRMF 211	Government Microfinance Programs	3	30	15	0	45
DRMF 212	Regulated and Unregulated Microfinance Institutions	3	30	15	0	45
DRMF 213	Risk Management in Microfinance	3	30	15	0	45
DRMF 214	Community and Group Development	3	30	15	0	45
DPAD 211	Human Resource Management	3	30	15	0	45
DBMT 112	Principles of Management and Governance	2	20	20	0	30
	Semester Credits	24	245	60	110	375
Semester 2
DRMF 221	Operations and Controlling for Financial Institutions	3	30	0	30	45
DRMF 222	Loan Portfolio Management	2	20	0	20	30
DRMF 223	Microfinance Value Chain and Product Development	2	20	0	20	30
DBMT 221	Business Finance and Budgeting	3	30	0	30	45
DBMT 223	Entrepreneurship & Small Business Mgt	3	30	0	30	45
DBMT 226	Customer Care & Relations	3	30	0	30	45
Recess Semester:   Business Placement 2		3	30	0	30	45
	Semester Credits	24	250	0	250	375
	Second Year Credit Units	45	560	140	90	675