Rules on credit transfer for postgraduate students tightened
University students during their graduation ceremony. Postgraduate students in universities and colleges will not be allowed to transfer their credits if they switch colleges. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The regulations also require those who intend to award national qualifications to apply to the authority for accreditation.
- The regulations gazetted last week by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed have also phased out higher diplomas.
- The higher diploma was equated to a degree and took more than five years.
Postgraduate students in universities and colleges will not be allowed to transfer their credits if they switch colleges.
The new regulations by the Kenya National Qualification Framework Authority say that only students taking certificate, diploma and degree programmes will be allowed to transfer their credits.
The regulations gazetted last week by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed have also phased out higher diplomas.
The higher diploma was equated to a degree and took more than five years.
“The authority shall approve a credit transfer made in accordance with the regulations, and credits transferred will not be more than 49 per cent,” says the regulation.
The move is aimed at addressing the problem of universities that admit students from other institutions without the prerequisite qualifications.
REVOKED
In 2016, the Commission for University Education (CUE) revoked doctorate of philosophy degrees awarded to five students by Kisii University after it emerged that it had admitted the students for masters’ degrees irregularly.
“Student admissions were highly irregular, based on a postgraduate credit transfer policy that is not provided for in either the Kisii University statutes or the Universities Standards and Guidelines for student mobility from one accredited institution to another," the commission said.
An audit report on universities released last year by CUE revealed that only eight universities had complied with the requirements on credit transfer.
It also revealed that some the universities granted more than 49 per cent credit transfers, in contravention of the minimum standards on credit transfers.
ACCREDITATION
The regulations also require those who intend to award national qualifications to apply to the authority for accreditation.
The authority will also establish a database of national qualifications to inform the implementation and maintenance of the national qualifications frame work.
The database established will contain information on registered unit standards, registered qualifications, accredited education institutions, assessment and certificate systems of accredited education institutions, validated learning qualifications, equated foreign qualifications, recognized and approved foreign qualifications, qualifications recognised from prior learning , students records and any other particulars as may be necessary.
The regulations also says that the authority will, from time to time, develop and publish manuals, codes and guidelines on national qualifications to advise and support any person, body or education institution, set standards and benchmarks for the qualifications and competencies including skills, knowledge, attitudes and values, among others.
