Varsities must listen to course regulators

Friday's protests by some university students in Nairobi and Mombasa may have been motivated by the delay in disbursing loans and bursaries, but had another critical component, namely the non-registration of some engineering students by the professional organisations.

Specifically, the students complained that the Engineers Board of Kenya had declined to recognise engineering degrees from newly established institutions such as the Technical University of Mombasa, which was previously a national polytechnic.

Arguably, the students have a valid concern that must be addressed. Importantly, the matter brought out a fundamental flaw in higher education, namely, lack of involvement of professional organisations in university education.

Yet that should be seen as a motherhood item not worth belabouring.

However, many professional programmes are launched and taught without reference to industry regulators. Universities may be independent as they set and examine their own academic programmes, but they do not train in a vacuum.

Their graduates are prepared for the industry, which has its standards.

The obvious expectation is that the universities and other training institutions always work closely with industry players in preparing the curriculum, assessing teaching, learning resources, and quality through internship programmes.

Precisely, the problem at hand has resulted from the massive expansion of universities in the past two decades.

Many universities have resorted to launching professional courses to set them apart and in that way attract more students. But this has been done without involving professional bodies.

The end result is that the courses are not recognised, and become a waste of time and resources for the trainees.

Universities offering professional courses must work with the industry players to ensure their programmes are recognised and make it easy for the trainees to be accredited after graduation.