Relief as Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi forms committee to spearhead amendment of Universities Act

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has formed a team to spearhead harmonisation and amendment of the Universities Act with the laws governing professional bodies.

The 11-member committee is comprised of stakeholders drawn from the Ministry of Education and that of Transport and Infrastructure.

Other members are representatives from public and private universities, the legal fraternity and professional bodies.

Principal Secretary State Department of Science and Technology Prof Collette Suda will chair the team which will be co-chaired by PS Belio Kipsang.

Kaimenyi set up the team after chaos and disorder marred public universities offering various unaccredited engineering and law programs.

Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE) have separately suspended programs in various institutions that offer unaccredited programs.

Commission for University Education (CUE) has also been sucked into the crisis that has seen thousands of students sent home.

Last week, House Education Committee chairperson Sabina Chege asked Kaimenyi to convene a stakeholder meeting to seek ways of amending the various sections of the conflicting laws.

There are about 17 professional bodies in Kenya.

The CLE already released a list of five institutions that it says have not been accredited to offer Law degrees.

The Council said Moi University, Catholic University of East Africa, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology and two campuses of University of Nairobi have not been accredited to offer the program.

Only seven universities have been fully accredited for law programs-African Nazarene University School of Law, Kenyatta University School of Law, Kisii University School of Law and Riara University School of Law.

Others are Strathmore University School of Law, University of Nairobi School of Law (Parklands Campus) and Kabarak University.

Information on EBK website also indicates that only 29 engineering programs have been accredited in Kenya today.

University of Nairobi has only five programs approved; Moi University has 13 while Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has 6.

Dedan Kimathi has four engineering programs approved with only one program approved at Egerton university.

CUE Chief Executive Officer David Soome said the stalemate between universities and professional bodies over 'purported rejection of accreditation of professional programs, closure of faculties and campuses and denial of licensing to practice' has caused a lacuna in law that must be addressed.

"The requisite laws for the professional bodies with a mandate to accredit professional programs should be reviewed with a view to streamline institutional and program accreditation. This dual system of accreditation requires urgent attention from all concerned parties. The Commission is in consultation with relevant stakeholders to address this issue," said Prof Some.

And addressing stakeholders   meeting attended by Vice Chancellors from Universities offering Law and Engineering programs, the Registrar EBK, and the CLE, Kaimenyi said the committee is expected to give its report in one month.

The CS said the committee' mandate is to review the laws and harmonize the Acts that establish the three bodies namely the CUE, EBK  and CLE to ensure there is no overlaps and conflict among the three entities.

The CS cautioned Universities against compromising quality of education by introducing degree programs in which they have no capacity adding that there should also be a clear procedure of closing down a program in an institution.