Why Hundreds of Graduates from JKUAT are at Risk of Losing Their Degrees

Hundreds of graduates from Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) could lose their Ph.D. and master’s degrees after an investigation by Commission of University Education (CUE) established that they were irregularly awarded.

As a result, CUE directed JKUAT Senate to review 118 PhDs awarded during the institution’s 33rd graduation ceremony on June 21st this year. The university’s senate has 90 days to do so.

The commission said it established that the institution flouted the universities’ standards and guidelines of 2014 in the award of the degrees.

CUE further stopped JKUAT from offering Ph.D. programs in its satellite campuses over lack of capacity. It cited the varsity’s Mombasa campus that has graduated 23 Ph.D. students since 2017 despite having no single professor.

CUE threatened to recall doctorate and master’s degrees awarded by the institution in the last three years if JKUAT fails to address issues raised by the commission in its report.

The institution awarded a total of 327 Ph.D. and 2,101 master’s degrees during its 31st, 32nd and 33rd graduation ceremonies held between June 2018 and June 2019.

“The university should align its processes on Ph.D. training to the University Statutes. The university should adhere to the standards and guidelines on the duration of the Ph.D. and the research component,” read the recommendations by CUE.

The commission further asked JKUAT to submit evidence of the students’ publication of two articles in refereed journals for each Ph.D. awarded since the publication of the Universities’ Standards and Guidelines in 2014, failure to which those degrees will be recalled.

 “All the Ph.D. students sampled were admitted into the program on the basis of a master’s degree but in some cases, some were admitted based on master’s degrees but without relevant academic bachelor’s degrees,” the CUE report states.

 “There was non-adherence to the Universities Standards and Guidelines 2014 with respect to supervision load and duration of the research component of the Ph.D. program.”

The report notes that in many cases, the panel that sat to consider the oral presentation from Ph.D. and Master’s students had as few as four members, yet the rules provide for a minimum of six, putting the validity of the degrees into question.

 “There was no evidence of meetings between supervisors and supervisees as no record of such meetings was produced,” the report adds.

 “Most of the students published in journals hosted by AJPO Journals in which a number of the academic staff of CoHRED had interests,” reads the report.

CUE also said that JKUAT Vice Chancellor Prof. Victoria Ngumi administratively approved students for graduation on behalf of the university’s senate, which is against the regulations.

“It was observed that some students submitted their theses based on research that did not meet the minimum requirements on research duration. A student completed their research, published, and gave the intent to submit, all in less than 12 months following the successful defense of the proposal,” reads the report.