Education CS Fred Matiangi at a past event. He has warned that East African universities must meet the local standards of quality in education or else their graduates will not be employed in the country. [PHOTO/tuko.co.ke]
Students at East African universities will not be employed in Kenya if the education systems of the countries in which they attain their degrees do not meet the Kenyan standards.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i said it would be futile of Kenyans to seek their education in countries which do not match the local thresholds.
He said plans are underway to ensure that higher education quality is maintained in East African countries.
"As you are aware, Tanzania did an audit and 16 universities were closed down. Rwanda also just did an audit and five universities were shut. We just did our audit and we shall go to any lengths to ensure standards are maintained," said Matiang'i.
"We hope Uganda will follow suit because it would be useless for Kenyans to study there and get useless degrees that will not be beneficial to them. We are not going to let anyone to bring mediocre papers in our countries, they will keep it within their borders," he said.
He said that the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) had scheduled a meeting for next month to review the higher education structure that included credit transfer.
"And we shall be very firm and direct with them that we must stick to the standards. We will not accept and recognise certificates that come from those countries," said Matiang'i.