University must pay for new courses for graduates with unaccredited degrees, according a court decision.
The reason the students moved to court was that even though they had graduated, their inability to register with a professional body prevented them from finding employment in Kenya.
The Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi issued a historic verdict on August 12, 2024, directing Egerton University to arrange remedial courses for students who were enrolled in unaccredited engineering degrees between 2014 and 2019.
The university was found to have breached students’ consumer rights by providing courses that did not adhere to the Engineers Board of Kenya’s (EBK) accreditation requirements.
Ian Nyagah and Henry Mulyungi, two former students, petitioned on behalf of themselves and fifty-five other impacted students, and their petition was granted.
According to the petitioners, their degrees’ lack of accreditation prevented them from registering with the EBK as graduate engineers, which resulted in severe financial losses and limited opportunities for advancement in their careers.
The petitioners enrolled in the following Egerton University engineering courses:
Water and Environmental Engineering; Instrumentation and Control Engineering; Manufacturing Engineering and Technology Bachelor of Science
The court’s ruling makes it clearer what the EBK and the Commission for University Education (CUE) are responsible for when it comes to engineering program accreditation.
Although university programs must be accredited by the CUE, the court emphasized that the EBK is specifically in charge of accrediting engineering programs to make sure they adhere to industry requirements.
In accordance with the agreement reached by the university and the impacted students, the remedial courses must be finished within the next three months. The court ordered Egerton University to pay the full cost of these courses.
In the context of the ruling, “remedial courses” relate to extra coursework that Egerton University’s impacted engineering students must finish in order to satisfy the requirements of the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) for accreditation.
The EBK examined the university’s engineering programs and found inadequacies in the students’ knowledge and skills, which these courses aim to address.
Because the institution offered engineering degrees that did not fully meet with the EBK’s requirements, remedial courses became necessary.
This made it difficult for graduates of these programs to register with the EBK as graduate engineers, which limited their opportunities to work as professional engineers in Kenya.
Furthermore, without the approval and input of the EBK, the court ordered the CUE to stop accrediting engineering courses.
In Kenya’s higher education sector, this decision establishes a precedent for the defense of students’ rights.
In order to qualify for professional registration in their chosen disciplines, students must acquire the requisite training, which emphasizes the significance of colleges upholding accrediting criteria.
The ruling also emphasizes the judiciary’s role in defending consumer rights and encouraging responsibility in educational settings.
University must pay for new courses for graduates with unaccredited degrees, according a court decision.
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