Students of Engineering at Kampala International University (KIU) are up in arms with the university administration after it failed to confirm the accreditation of engineering courses.
The strike, that has entered day two, has seen three students arrested and detained at Kabalagala Police Station.
The students say that the university, for over five years, has been teaching engineering courses that are not accredited by the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE). Speaking to Campus Bee, a student who preferred anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said that KIU has never had its engineering courses accredited hence issuing fake engineering degrees.
“We wrote to the administration demanding for accreditation of the engineering courses after one of the students visited the NCHE and found out that KIU does not have any engineering course accredited by the Council,” the disgruntled student said before adding that, “the university is forcing us to sit for exams without clearing the accreditation issue. We have since refused to do this end of semester examinations until KIU gets our courses accredited because our degrees are not recognized anywhere.”
The courses that are not accredited are; Diploma in Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Masters in Civil Engineering, Masters in Construction Management, Diploma in Telecom Engineering, Bachelors in Telecom Engineering, Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, Masters in Mechanical Engineering, Diploma in Electrical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Masters in Electrical Engineering.
The demonstrating students were on Tuesday dispersed by teargas after they tried to storm the administration block to seek for answers.
The students also say that they petitioned the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga on the same matter. “We wrote to Hon Kadaga requesting for her intervention on this matter and she replied saying that she had written to the Minister of Education and First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni to intervene but we are yet to hear from her,” our source said.
On checking on the NCHE website under the list of accredited universities and courses, we confirmed that engineering courses are not on the list of KIU accredited courses.
When Campus Bee reached out to NCHE, the Public Relations Officer of NCHE, Mr Saulo Waigolo said that the Council wrote to KIU regarding the accreditation of 55 courses. The letter, according to Mr Waigolo, was received on 5th March 2018 by Dr Clare Mugasa on behalf of KIU. “In the letter, we requested them (KIU) to hand in the missing documents and minor corrections for the accreditation of the (engineering) courses that they submitted.
KIU Speaks Out
The Kasanga based university has this afternoon issued a statement regarding the demonstration. It reads;
“The Management of Kampala International University regrets the manner employed yesterday by a group of engineering students in demanding updates on the progress made towards the accreditation of their program.
Much as we understand their concerns and have in several forums provided feedback including the guidance from the NCHE, a few bad actors who do not believe in dialogue acted in a way that was antithetical to the character of the University and with deep concern, a danger to themselves and others.
Sadly, they persisted in this behavior despite warnings from regional law enforcement. Consequently, three arrests were made to protect class going students, staff, and university property.
However, as concerned guardians, the University management is in touch with the law enforcement, and are working together to release the students and resume dialogue.
We would like to inform the public that classes and university activities have resumed according to schedule.
The Management.“
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