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The Commission for University Education (CUE) Wednesday extended a lifeline to more than 10,000 students said to be enrolled in illegal courses after it declared the programmes valid.
Chief Executive Officer Mwenda Ntarangwi said the universities which have been offering the courses, most of which are clustered under bachelors of Arts and Sciences, could admit new students into the programmes.
In a statement after a meeting with Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed at Jogoo House, Nairobi, Prof Ntarangwi ruled out approvals for new programmes, saying the process has been suspended until next year.
According to a document by the Kenya Universities, Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), the commission had raised quality issues with 133 degree programmes in 26 public and private universities and had, therefore, not approved them.
Prof Ntarangwi said that in November last year, they received a request from KUCCPS to validate undergraduate programmes offered at all local public and private universities.
The placement service also asked the commission to assess capacities declared by each of the universities for placement of government-funded students for the 2019/2020 placement cycle.
“To adequately advise KUCCPS on its request, the commission initiated a routine data collection exercise on the availability of academic resources for programmes mounted in various local universities.
The aim was to triangulate the data with the capacities and confirm validity of the programmes declared. The commission’s decisions were based on facilities as well as programmes on offer as at August 2018,” he said.
He said the commission subjected 1,828 programmes to the special assessment following a request by the placement service.
“Based on the preliminary examination, the commission raised a few basic compliance issues with some of the programmes. The compliance issues were contained in an initial non-conclusive working document that formed the basis for further consultations between CUE and the individual universities ahead of the commencement of the selection process on February 6, 2019,” said Prof Ntarangwi.
He said the commission has worked with the relevant agencies to ensure that the compliance issues raised against majority of the programmes have been addressed, therefore allowing the placement agency to admit students to the courses this year.
He said the commission is committed to working with all universities to strengthen academic programmes to ensure world class standards of training.
He directed universities to ensure they put in place adequate facilities for all their programmes in line with the universities Standards and Guidelines of 2014 and give the commission minutes of Senate meetings showing approval for the programmes to be mounted in constituent colleges.
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