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Tuesday 28 May 2024

OAU’s Transcript Processing Really Got Better [TAGS: OAU TRANSCRIPT, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY TRANSCRIPT, UNIIFE, TRANSCRIPT IFE]

 OAU’s Transcript Processing Really Got Better

When OAU’s transcript processing was terrible in delivery timeline, customer relations and what have you, we wouldn’t stop shouting on the school and its management everywhere online and offline. OAU’s transcript processing got even worse around 2019 and 2020, the fastest delivery then would be around three months, and it could go as worse as you waiting forever for your transcript to get delivered but never getting delivered. The worst part was no one would contact you to let you know what’s wrong and what you needed to do. Everything about expecting OAU to deliver your transcript after paying for such service was terrible. More like dozens of transcript applications were entering per day but only a handful of finished transcripts get delivered per day, thereby causing a backlog of applications. PEC as a business in education and solutions solved a good number of problems delaying these transcripts then, and we made some good revenues from helping alumni solve these problems as a third-party between them and the university. But in the last few months, OAU’s transcript processing has been at its best and it is necessary we sing their praises the same way we criticised them when they were terrible at it. The Transcript Unit is so up and doing now that alumni who graduated in the last five years or so might even be able to get their transcripts delivered in days without having to settle anybody or contact anybody to start running around for them on their transcript processing. People who graduated around ten years ago might however need to expect their own delivery in weeks (say three or four weeks); compared to before, this is good. OAU becoming better in management and adoption of modern technologies, I am sure if the Transcript Unit keeps this pace, sooner, same-day delivery of transcript would be achieved.

The only aspects the university is still having issues in relations to transcript processing are:

1.      Transcripts of alumni of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, because their results are not really programmed on any electronic spreadsheet yet, which makes collation and processing take between several months and never getting attended to because no staff wants to voluntarily take up such stress;

2.      Transcripts of alumni whose matric number look like this 851592 and those whose matric number look like this SCI/99/001 (compared to the new matric numbering system that looks like this SCI/2000/001), the implications attached to the old matric numbers are that you graduated like two or three decades ago, or even more, and also, your results are only on papers (which may have totally or partly been lost or damaged by rodents, water or room temperature). Also, whether your results are somewhere close or not wouldn’t matter much, the fact that you have a scary matric number scares staff away from touching your transcript application; so such applications are usually abandoned until someone shows up for you or on your behalf to start running around for you in processing your transcript; and

3.      Transcripts of alumni who transferred between departments when they were in school and those who had a lot of extra years. I think this problem occurs because the software engineers who built the current results and transcripts software the school uses (called TPS) did not consider the fact that some people are not able to run their programme without transferring, taking a leave of absence, having extra year and all; they built the software to only understand that you started your programme when you should start it and you ended it when you should end it. This means if you transferred between departments or you had any interruption, the software would only be able to read the part of your programme before the transfer or interruption happened. So the rest of your results and other information would have to be processed manually (from your department)

The only alumni having problems with getting their transcripts easily and fast or getting it at all are people who fall on any one of the three circumstances discussed above. I believe if OAU knows this and they intend to solve the problem so these alumni can enjoy the new advancement in the OAU transcript processing, they can do it. While we head towards achieving same-day delivery of transcripts, we should make it general and not that it’s only possible for some set of alumni. Again, kudos to the school management and the Transcript Unit for the advancement they have achieved so far, it’s impressive.

People who read this also have interest in reading this: Solutions to Date of Birth Discrepancies on Your OAU or UI Transcript