University regulator warns it may stop part-time courses

University education regulator has threatened to shut down part-time learning progmmes for teachers, saying they are not spending enough hours in class.

The regulator has also discontinued 42 academic programmes from both public and private universities for being substandard while three others are being winded up.

Commission for University Education (CUE) chief executive officer David Some said universities had failed to observe the contact hour rule, which requires at least 120 hours of class or contact with a lecturer in one academic year.

“Universities irrespective of the mode of delivery of learning is required to observe contact hour, be it evening classes, weekend classes, school based or distance learning,” said Prof Some.

He was speaking during the third day of the first biennial conference on the state of higher education on Thursday.

Thousands of teachers who study during holiday when schools have closed are likely to be affected if the commission makes good its threat. Students under the school-based programme — most of them teachers — study in April, August and December when schools have closed.
Currently there are more than 290,000 teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in public schools and colleages. Several others work in private schools.
Education Fred Matiang’i recently raised concerns over failure by universities to adhere to the contact hour rule despite its being set out under the guidelines and standards of universities.
The academic calendar for a university is divided into semesters, which comprise two equal terms of between 15-17 weeks in an academic year; trimesters (three equal terms of between 13-15 weeks in an academic year); quarters (four equal terms of between 9-12 weeks in an academic year).
A credit hour is equivalent to a minimum of 13 instructional hours.
The commission is also set to carry out an audit on qualifications of students enrolled in various university programmes across the country and publish student enrolment data annually.
Speaking at the same forum, CUE Deputy Secretary Anne Nangulu criticised public universities for setting up more programmes despite lack of capacity in terms of facilities and lecturers.