Seventy five students who pursued engineering degrees that have not been approved have received compensation in court.
The students had received engineering
degrees from the Technical University of
Kenya even though they had enlisted
with the University of Nairobi. The degrees had not been approved by the Engineers Board of Kenya.
The students were admitted between 2009
and 2011, when Kenya Polytechnic which later became Technical University of Kenya was a constituent college of the University of Nairobi.
Now, they have been awarded Sh. 15 million in compensation by the High Court. The students had told the High Court that they had been unable to find
work despite having completed the degree program.
“I am therefore in agreement with the petitioners that they were students of the UoN and were entitled to be awarded degrees by the university in the absence
of any legal provisions transferring the responsibility of awarding degree certificates to the TUK,” Justice James Makau ruled. The judge further ruled that
TUK must forward their names to the University of Nairobi, so that the students can be included in the list of the university’s next graduates.
“In the circumstances I find that the TUK
and the UoN violated the petitioners’
legitimate expectation that the degree
certificates to be awarded to them
would be from the UoN and not any
other university,” the court further ruled.
The ruling comes barely months after
local universities were criticized for offer
what was termed as useless degrees in
Kenya due to lack of proper
accreditation and lack of market.