NCHE not meeting standards

ACADEMIC EVALUATION

The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is an important body tasked with establishing academic integrity and perhaps, to ensure the quality of Higher Education in Uganda. In the last few years, NCHE has been instrumental in verifying academic transcripts for purposes of establishing its equivalence, validity, or authenticity.

NCHE is critical for many people who aspire to join politics. One of the most retarded requirements in our politics is the low expectations that contestants for Parliament to have obtained an equivalent of Advanced Level Certificate in Education. That means a candidate must have spent six (6) years in Uganda’s high school and completed UACE exams, or obtained its equivalent from elsewhere (debatable subject).

In the last few years, NCHE has not performed well in discharging this duty of accreditation where applicants have a complicated academic history. There are many cases, the Hon. Peter Ssematimba’s case that recently appeared in the media reaffirms by point (See DM May 13, 2016: NCHE boss tasked to explain Ssematimba’s papers).

It is important for NCHE to study how other countries and organizations, like the World Education Services (WES), do their credentialing. There are a million of such organizations out there.

However, NCHE needs to develop a standardized definition of what constitute an equivalent of any level of education in Uganda if they already do not have one. For instance, PLE needs definition –we can define it by number of years spent in school, number of subjects a pupil must study, or the competencies that one must have accumulated from the system; and how one gains access to each level of education. This same standard ought to be maintained for ordinary, Advanced and University/College Education.

As it is, it appears that as long as NCHE is not sure of one’s details of education, such a person is qualified. That is detrimental, as it lowers the quality and erodes the integrity of our education system.

Further, NCHE should make it a point to standardize its processes. For instance, the World Education Services tasks the applicant to provide it with original copies of their transcripts from their academic institutions. The transaction is institution-to-institution to ensure integrity. In the case of Mr. Peter Ssematimba’s he would have contacted Pacific Technical Institute and Asuza Pacific University to provide NCHE with copies of his trancripts.

Further, NCHE should know that for one to qualify to join college or University, one needs the High School Diploma/Certificate – this is where, how one enters an institution matters. You do not come from O level into a University. In additional, it is important to note that merely enrolling into a college or University should not qualify a candidate automatically as having met that “minimum A level” requirement. NCHE should bother to profile every country’s education system as and when needed; and strive to establish contact with their ministry of education or accreditation bodies, through the embassies or direct contact. These contacts are online, and the cost should be included in the fees levied for the verification exercise.

There are many colleges and Universities in this world. NCHE may not know all of them and does not need to know all of them. However, NCHE has to adhere to due diligence to ensure that Uganda’s education system has some integrity upon which other education systems can be weighed against favorably.

We already know that there are so many fake Universities and Colleges, as well as multitude of fake college diplomas and degrees on the street out there. It is important to establish a standardized format upon which every applicant should submit academic credentials for evaluation. It is also upon the candidate to ensure that they contact the relevant authorities those countries in the event that their Institutions of learning have seized to exist.  For instance, if one of the colleges or universities were to close down, how would NCHE and Ministry of education ensure that student records and their degrees or diplomas are preserved? How can these graduates access their records when needed?

In short, no one goes to a credible University or College without having met the basic minimum qualification for admissions. If they obtained upgrading to meet the minimum qualification through credible adult learning schools, those should be sufficient to qualify them as having advanced level education.

END.