Commission of University Education faults PhDs received in JKUAT since 2014

The Commission of University (C.U.E) has confirmed that the Doctor of Philosophy degrees earned in Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were not earned in a right manner.

This after irregularities were identified in the whole process leading to graduation. The University failed to follow standard guidelines that came into force in 2014.

To begin with, it is claimed that supervisors carried a bigger load than the recommended number of three PHDs and five masters.

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A total number of 327 PHDs and 2,101 master’s degrees were awarded during the 31st, 32nd and 33rd ceremonies held in the university leading to a lot of suspicion.

Under review

The PHDs under review are a total of 118 awarded during the 33rd graduation with the University senate given three months to review them and come up with explanations.

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“Ensure that you submit evidence of the students’ publication of two articles in refereed journals for each PHD awarded since the publication of the universities standards guidelines 2014,” the report directs failure to which the PHDs will be recalled until the requirements are fulfilled.

Supervision

Furthermore, the report states that the supervision process was shoddy with non-adherence of to the university statues with the duration also an issue. The board of examiners sitting to consider the oral presentations were less than the recommended number of six.

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Who has the mandate?

The probe team led by Prof Jackson K. Too also identified that of the 118 students 112 were approved by the university senate for graduation while the remaining six were approved by the Vice Chancellor Prof Victoria Ngumi raising the question why that was the case.

The reports raises pertinent issues with glaring danger of losing the importance of post graduate studies, with the number of irregular degrees being issued each and every single days including from satellite colleges who don’t have even a single professor.