New CUE Chief Vows to Deal With Fake Degrees
Mike Kuria, the new executive director of the Commission for University Education, has promised to collaborate with university administrators to combat fake degree certificates.
Kuria believes the working relationship between vice-chancellors and CUE should be repaired.
He was speaking on October 11, when he officially took over as national regulator chief from Mwenda Ntarangwi.
“When you call a vice chancellor from CUE, they immediately think they have committed a mistake,” Kuria said.
He did, however, emphasize the importance of an effective working relationship between the two sectors’ players in ensuring that only valid certificates are used.
“These institutions will need careful monitoring, walking alongside them in the public,” he said.
This, he claims, can be accomplished by ensuring universities have a data system in place to keep track of students and their qualifications.
“In my tenure, we will work to ensure that this data becomes useful to us,” he said.
Kuria, a former member of the Inter-Universities Council, stated that if verification is required, the commission can simply check.
“That means when universities train you, the next time we ask if your qualifications are valid, we can go back to your university, that information should be available,” he said.
Kuria stated that the regulator will work on a formula to accept or vet internationally acquired qualifications.
It should be noted that CUE was present during the August elections to verify candidates’ qualifications.
Despite the commission’s efforts, Kuria said it is unfortunate that some universities continue to run unaccredited programs.
The Kenya National Qualifications Authority, on the other hand, is working on the same process to accept qualifications obtained from IGAD countries.
According to KNQA Director General John Mukhwana, an education stakeholders conference will be held, bringing together leaders from the aforementioned countries.
Mukhwana and Abdi Kea, a principal education officer, will be among those involved in the process.
Mukhwana stated that Kenya has set the pace for the other eight countries in the region in terms of national qualification development and implementation.
He said Kenya is already mentoring Ethiopia and Uganda, which are nearing completion of their national qualification frameworks. Other countries are steadily progressing.
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda are among the members.
Mukhwana previously stated that the regional framework will be beneficial to member states.
According to the DG, the lack of a unified structure limits professional exposure to other countries.
“In some of these countries, it will take you up to six months for them to figure out what your qualification is,” he said.
In terms of data management, the Universities Funding Board is also putting in place a similar system.
The system will aid in identifying students enrolled in college as well as those who have deferred or been dropped.
The Universities Funding Board was tasked with reporting on the system’s progress in April.
“UFB establishes and implements the university education data management information system to promote accountability and improve management of disbursed funds,” the report reads.
UFB CEO Geoffrey Monari stated that the system will allow the government to properly fund institutions while submitting the budget policy statement to the National Assembly Education committee.
“We want to give proper figures on the kind of funding the government is giving each public university,” Monari said.
Monari stated that, in addition to funding for primary and secondary school students, the government also provides capitation for university students.
According to a notice issued by CUE, 15 candidates were chosen from a pool of 49 applicants.
Emily Achieng, Dismus Bulinda, Elizabeth Wangari, Everlyne Kisembe, Mike Kuria, and Geoffrey Muluvi were also nominated.
Benedict Mwavu, Francis Gichuki, Grace Njoroge, Nathan Oyori, Maurice Oduor, Gilbert Opanga, Douglas Shitanda, and Jackson Too are among the others.
