Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Vice-Chancellor Prof. Victoria Wambui Ngumi maintains that all degrees awarded by the institution were meritoriously earned.
In a press statement, Prof. Ngumi said that all 118 PhDs awarded during the institution’s last graduation ceremony on June 2019 are genuine and dismissed reports by a section of Kenyan media that the Commission for University Education (CUE) had suspended them.
“No student is allowed to graduate without going through the due process regarding coursework, seminars, original research, external examination, and publications,” said Prof. Ngumi.
“The University has taken note, with great concern, some of the biased and unfounded misinformation to the public in certain media platforms without giving proper context to the report submitted by the CUE to the Ministry. None of our awarded doctorate degrees have been suspended,” she added.
On Tuesday, CUE ordered JKUAT to immediately stop training Ph.D. students in its satellite campuses for lack of capacity and transfer them to the main campus in Juja.
The commission also asked the university to submit evidence of students’ publication of two articles for each Ph.D. awarded since the Universities Standards and Guidelines took effect in 2014.
CUE said failure to submit the evidence will lead to recalling of the degrees until graduation requirements are fulfilled.
JKUAT’s Senate was further given 90 days to review the 118 Ph.D. awarded during the institution’s 33rd graduation ceremony held in June.
In a report, CUE said that it found instances where JKUAT admitted students without relevant academic Bachelor’s degree for Ph.D. programs.
The report also pointed out that out of the 118 PhDs awarded in June,112 were approved by Senate but the rest were administratively permitted by the Vice-Chancellor on behalf of Senate.
