{"id":48832,"date":"2023-05-25T07:06:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T07:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today"},"modified":"2023-05-25T08:32:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T08:32:49","slug":"mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today","title":{"rendered":"MPs start \u2018expired\u2019\u00a0 degrees probe today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Parliament\u2019s Committee on Education will today start examining the saga of \u2018expired\u2019 academic and professional programmes which are reportedly being taught illegally at Uganda\u2019s public and private universities, and other institutions of higher learning.<\/p>\n

The saga broke this week as news media reported shock revelations that some Ugandan degree holders are having their applications for further studies abroad rejected on grounds that what they studied was not accredited.<\/p>\n

Under Uganda\u2019s laws, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is mandated to accredit both universities and programmes taught, and other institutions of higher learning.<\/p>\n

An institution is only supposed to operate and run programmes upon accreditation, rendering any academic qualification attained in places without due accreditation null and void. And this is the interpretation of the law which is being made abroad, and hence the rejection some of the country\u2019s graduates have faced.<\/p>\n

The communication about commencement of inquiries was made yesterday by Mr John Twesigye Ntamuhiira (Bunyaruguru), the committee chairperson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been receiving several communications regarding these courses which they regard to have expired and have realised that the communication from Makerere University, Kyambogo University and what the minister has presented seem to be conflicting,\u201d Mr Ntamuhiira said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what we have decided as a committee is to invite the Ministry of Education and Sports, and relevant agencies to interact with them tomorrow (Thursday) and possibly Friday to analyse the matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ministry\u2019s view<\/b><\/p>\n

In a statement also read yesterday by State Minister for Higher Education Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, government said the now contentious word, \u2018expiry\u2019, as used by the NCHE to describe unaccredited programmes, means that they only need periodic evaluation.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpiry of accreditation, as reflected on the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) website, means that the programme needs re-assessment to establish whether the key aspects upon which accreditation was granted is still in place. No programme will receive this label once institutions conform to the requirements for re-assessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Institutions with programmes requiring re-assessment, Mr Muyingo added, have been urged to submit them for re-assessment by November 30<\/p>\n

Institutions are required to submit programmes for re-assessment every five years (for Masters, Bachelors, Diplomas, and Higher Education Certificates) and every ten years for PhDs to assure quality and continued relevance. This publication on Tuesday carried responses from universities and tertiary institutions over the issue of teaching expired courses.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Deputy Speaker Thomas introduced a new dimension to the saga when he observed that reviewing programmes every five years may not be reasonable in some cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say a Bachelors\u2019 degree, the curriculum is reviewed after every five years, now you have a course like medicine, which takes five years.<\/p>\n

So, it means, once I am admitted, by the time I am graduating, my curriculum is expiring. So, how do you look at a five-year course and say that its curriculum can expire after every five years? It is not tenable,\u201d Mr Tayebwa said.<\/p>\n

He also said NCHE\u2019s use of the word \u2018expired\u2019 has caused a national crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we love using strong words without knowing the impact they can have one day. Why use the word expiry?\u201d Mr Tayebwa asked.<\/p>\n

But Ms Christine Kaaya Nakimwero (Kiboga) said universities which continue to enroll and graduate students in programmes which NCHE has not accredited are to blame for the mess.<\/p>\n

Other legislators, including Ms Connie Galiwango Nakayenze (Mbale City) and Ms Menya Paska Aciro (Pader) said the crisis is tormenting families with mental distress being suffered by both students, former affected former students and their parents or gaurdians.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka moved to try and settle nerves, turning attention to what the law says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an administrative function that the National Council for Higher Education is carrying out to review the courses. The use of the word expiry may have been a bit overboard but that was their choice and I think they are going to correct that. But, under our law, there is no provision for expiry of courses. Courses are continuous. So, the country needs to remain calm,\u201d Mr Kiwanuka said.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General, who is chief legal advisor to government also told MPs that \u201cthere is no law that provides for expiry of courses. The courses are still valid\u201d. \u201cIt was just I think a bad choice of word but I think the review is going on and NCHE is continuing to review the courses to make them applicable to the changing circumstances in the world. But the country needs to be assured [that] all the degrees that have been issued are well within the provisions of the law,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Parliament\u2019s Committee on Education will today start examining the saga of \u2018expired\u2019 academic and professional programmes which are reportedly being taught illegally at Uganda\u2019s public and private universities, and other institutions of higher learning. The saga broke this week as news media reported shock revelations that some Ugandan degree holders are having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":48831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-48832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nMPs start \u2018expired\u2019\u00a0 degrees probe today - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Parliament\u2019s Committee on Education will today start examining the saga of \u2018expired\u2019 academic and professional programme ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MPs start \u2018expired\u2019\u00a0 degrees probe today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parliament\u2019s Committee on Education will today start examining the saga of \u2018expired\u2019 academic and professional programme ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T07:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T08:32:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/05\/sm_1684987172.11599.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MPs start \u2018expired\u2019\u00a0 degrees probe today\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-25T07:06:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-25T08:32:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\"},\"wordCount\":794,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/05\/sm_1684987172.11599.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mps-start-expired-degrees-probe-today\",\"name\":\"MPs start \u2018expired\u2019\u00a0 degrees probe today - 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