There are 26 engineering courses that are offered in our universities yet they are not accredited by the Engineers Board of Kenya.
This simply means, students taking those courses cannot be registered as engineers by the board after graduation. Ttherefore, there is so much risk in missing out employment opportunities.
Some of the courses are taught in well established universities like, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, Egerton University and Kenyatta University.
Egerton University surpasses all other universities by offering 5 unregistered courses like, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and control engineering, civil and structural engineering, mechanical engineering and technology and manufacturing engineering.
Kenyatta University becomes second with it’s four courses. These are: petroleum engineering, biomedical engineering, aeroscope engineering and agricultural and biosystems engineering.
South Eastern Kenya University ties with KU as it also offer four unacredited courses. These are; agricultural engineering, civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering and mechanical engineering.
Margaret Ogai, the EBK registrar appeared before the National Assembly Committee of Education and research and said, it is a waste of time and resources for parents and students to take unaccredited courses. This also affect the people as it affects the country’s economy.
She was summoned to respond to questions on a petition by three students from Egerton University who had complains on their education claiming that their rights to education has been violated by doing an unaccredited course.
This problem is brought up through disconnection between EBK, commission for University Education which approves curricula for instituitions and university management.
It is so unfortunate that some of these students were placed in the programmes by the Kenya University and Colleges Placement Services whereby they followed recommendation by the ministry.
In a meeting with CUE officials, the council of deans and the state department for University Education, Ms Ogai promised to resolve the accreditation impasse.
It is a process that involves review and assessment of the programme to make sure it complies with the standards that are set by EBK.
There will be an assessment of the programme design, faculty staff establishment, curriculum content, the training facilities and infrastructure, training duration and quality assurance.
