Editor,

RE: "3000 students stranded after closure of varsities” (The New Times, October 31). The primary culprit here is the Higher Education Council (HEC). 

How did they approve the establishment of institutions that were clearly lacking the minimum conditions to provide education at that level? On what basis did they grant accreditation to the five closed universities? Did they undertake proper inspections and the necessary assessment of these institutions before they allowed them to operate in the country, leading so many Rwandans to believe these institutions had the necessary official seal of approval and they could therefore spend their hard-earned resources to acquire an education from these institutions?

Instead of merely advising affected students to seek admissions elsewhere (i.e. telling them they are on their own), what is the Council doing to remedy the costly consequences to these students of the Council’s own failure to monitor institutions it is itself tasked to oversee and whose quality assurance they are responsible for?

Mwene Kalinda