A past graduation ceremony. The Engineers Registration Board (ERB), Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technicians Board (KMLTB), and the Council of Legal Education have refused to recognise degree qualifications from some universities, citing low quality curricular that omit core units and lax student supervision. Photo/FILE
Thousands of university graduates may be forced to go back to class for remedial courses after failing to secure practising certificates in a bitter dispute over the quality of degrees offered by some universities. (Also read: MWAURA: Beware who you employ, some have fake university degrees )
At least three professional regulatory bodies that check the quality of teaching in local institutions of higher learning are locked in disagreements with university administration officials over the matter.
The Engineers Registration Board (ERB), Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technicians Board (KMLTB), and the Council of Legal Education have refused to recognise degree qualifications from some universities, citing low quality curricular that omit core units and lax student supervision. (Also read: What now for students caught in degree crisis?)
The Commission for Higher Education- which regulates the sector- has stepped in to arbitrate between universities and the professional bodies that grant practising certificates, with focus being on revising the affected curricular and finding recourse for those that have already graduated in the disputed disciplines. (Read: Kenyan varsities ordered to review courses )
“Each professional body will take individual action of resolving the issue,” said Prof Everett Standa, chief executive of the Commission for Higher Education (CHE). Graduates of some of the disputed degree courses could be forced to go back to class for remedial courses that will give them full professional qualifications.
“We are looking at each case individually and some who have graduated may require workshops and internship programmes,” said Prof Standa.
The affected universities have been advised to review their course units, incorporating the recommendations of the professional regulatory bodies.
Some of those affected are graduates and current students of Kenyatta University (KU) who are taking courses such as energy engineering, water and environmental engineering, manufacturing engineering and law degrees.
The ERB has refused to recognise some of the engineering specialisations offered by KU, arguing they only recognise four major engineering disciplines; mechanical, civil, electrical and agricultural.
Majority of the disputed engineering courses offered by KU were started less than a decade ago, with the first batch of students reportedly graduating in 2007.
Engineering courses offered at Masinde Muliro, Egerton University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology are also affected.
Approximately 2,400 engineering graduates are said to be affected by the standoff. Mr Gilbert Arasa, the registrar of the Engineers Registration Board, said they were in negotiations with affected institutions on how to resolve the crisis.
“We have agreed on the issue with some institutions, the standards cannot be breached,” said Mr Arasa.
The board holds that some of the engineering degrees in dispute are sub-units of conventional engineering disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical and biosafety engineering that cannot be awarded as full degrees.
Kenyatta University’s acting Dean for the School of Engineering, Maina Mambo, declined to comment on the matter, saying he would do so on Wednesday this week.
The Business Daily learnt that the faculty members had gone to Mombasa last week to prepare a new curriculum streamlining the disputed courses with those of other institutions approved by the industry body.
A senior lecturer at the faculty said over 400 students who had graduated from KU’s engineering programmes had been denied practising certificates by the ERB. A proposal had been made for the graduates to be recalled to take bridging courses, he said.
“The best way is for the universities to take in the graduates during semester breaks as they need those bridging courses.
Some of the courses may require two semesters to undertake the core units that were not included in the curriculum,” said the lecturer on condition of anonymity.
The Kenya Medical Laboratory and Technicians Board has refused to recognise qualifications for graduates who were not supervised by the body during their final year internships, according to Prof Standa.
A high proliferation of new courses taught in universities in recent years has seen Professional bodies seek a bigger say in the development of graduate programmes.
Kenyatta University has for example introduced multiple courses in the schools of engineering, agriculture, economics and law.
Prof Standa said his commission does not have regulatory oversight on courses taught in public universities, creating a legal vacuum that has caused the current rift between the public institutions and professional bodies.
Currently, the commission’s powers for approving new courses are limited to private universities.
The Senate- universities’governing bodies- are in charge of approving new courses that are taught by the respective schools or departments.
“The functions of the commission shall be to examine and approve proposals for courses of study and course regulations submitted to it by private universities” states the Universities Act. Prof Standa said an amendment Bill is being prepared by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. “We need a change in the law to be able to move close to public universities in matters of accreditation,” said Prof Standa.
The commission has also been at loggerheads with private universities that open un-accredited college campuses or start new, un-approved courses.
Other professional bodies such as the Institute of Surveyors of Kenya, the Chartered Institute of Accountants and the Association of Nurses have in recent years rejected college graduates on the grounds of holding certificates from un-recognised institutions.
If they go back to class, the graduates will not be the first to undergo such an ordeal. Some Bachelor of Education degree graduates were forced to do so in the early 1990s.
The teachers were trained to tutor one subject while the minimum requirement by the Teacher Service Commission was at least two subjects.
The graduates may have to incur extra tuition fees, an unfair turn of events given that it was not the students’ fault in the first place.
While concurring with the professional body on the need to protect the quality of degrees developed by universities, the senior KU lecturer said it is important for the ERB to recognise new engineering disciplines that have been necessitated by technological advancements.
Such new disciplines in engineering include the divisions of computer engineering, telecommunications engineering and renewable energy whose industries are proving to be key economic drivers.
“ERB needs to move out of the box as they are stuck in the traditional disciplines of engineering.
We need a blend between the traditional disciplines and the emerging areas that have a place in the world arena,” said the lecturer.
Industry players have complained of graduates who do not have sufficient practical experience.
“Our graduates are very bookish and need a practical experience as you need to look at social, economic and political angles in business, which you can’t get from the books,” said Mr Vimal Shah, CEO of Bidco Limited.
Kenyan universities have ranked poorly in the list of global institutions of higher learning with only three of them making it to the top 5,000.
The 2011 Ranking Web of World Universities by the Spanish National Research Council placed University of Nairobi as Kenya’s top college at position 2,452 globally and in position 26 in Africa, while Kenya’s second, Strathmore University finished in position 3,445 globally and 40 on the continent while Kenyatta University ranked 4,803 globally and 58 in Africa.
Educationists blame the ongoing dilution of the quality of Kenyan degrees on uncontrolled expansion in the last 10 years that has seen public universities open multiple campuses, putting to doubt the quality of teaching in the units.
Though the number of qualified lecturers has been growing, it lags far behind the student enrolment rate forcing many universities to hire unqualified staff for academic positions. It has, for instance, become common to find university departments staffed by non PhD holders and in most severe cases first degree holders teaching post-graduate classes.
Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Graduates+to+take+extra+courses+in+degrees+row+/-/539546/1226998/-/5uuvuhz/-/index.html
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