Students expose more rot at troubled Presbyterian University of East Africa University

By Paul Wafula

NAIROBI, KENYA: Fresh revelations of the rot at Presbyterian University of East Africa surfaced yesterday after it emerged that the church-sponsored institution has been mixing students doing the same course but in different years of study in one lecture hall.

Students who spoke to The Standard said lecturers in some courses combine students, irrespective of the year of study as long as they are pursuing the same programme, in one lecture room in a bid to cut costs.

“I am pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Counselling Psychology... Lecturers sometimes even combine first-year students with those in their final year,” one student said.

“It’s like putting Class Two pupils in Class Eight, all in the name of cost cutting. We are getting a raw deal,” the student who requested anonymity in fear of retribution added.

New dimension

The revelation adds a new dimension to the mismanagement of the varsity, which has been hit by an academic scandal.

The university is being accused of randomly awarding marks to students after lecturers withheld them in protest over pay.

In addition, it is yet to settle a debt owed to a contractor running at Sh226 million.

Yesterday, the university came out to fight claims that it has been faking students’ results.  In a press statement emailed to The Standard and signed by Prof Paul Mbugua, the Vice-Chancellor, PUEA admitted to not having paid some lecturers.

“The university has never cooked up results for students after lecturers withheld exam papers in protest over pay…Much as it is true that the university has had its challenges and has indeed delayed in paying its valued lecturers, all cases pertaining to exams were settled and all results were submitted before students were allowed to graduate,” Prof Mbugua said in the statement.

The VC also admitted that there were lectures who withheld their results in an attempt to stop graduation in November last year. 

However, he maintained that the courses were not ‘core’, therefore could not stop students from graduating.