Universities extorting money by offering unapproved courses, CS Magoha reveals

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha on Thursday revealed that several universities in the country could be extorting money from students by offering courses not approved by the Commission for University Education.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Prof. Magoha was quick to admit  that university education has gone wrong, adding that, to his knowledge, several universities are running questionable programs.

“I know for sure that there are universities who sit down decide to offer this course, they start teaching it without involving the Commission for University Education or regulator,” said Prof. Magoha.

Magoha’s admission raised curiosity of the Education committee, with the Chairperson, Julius Melly asking what the government’s course of action.

“Whereas the regulator has approved that a certain course should be done, a professional body disapproves, what is this that has left students stranded,” posed Melly.

Magoha responded: “It is criminal to teach somebody something and when he comes out he gets disqualified, we will clean this up.”

Thousands of graduates have been denied jobs for the simple reason that the courses they pursued cannot be approved by the responsible professional bodies.

At  Kisii University, health records, as a discipline continues to thrive with hundreds of students currently pursuing both certificate and diploma courses.

Andrew Mogaka Ondieki graduated with a diploma in health records and information management from Kisii University three years ago. But even after his graduation, his certificate has been useless.

In every job advertised, he meets all qualifications except approval by the professional body incharge — The Association of Medical Records Officers.