Unilak on course for accreditation – Minister

GASABO - Universite Laique Adventiste de Kigali (Unilak), the Kigali based private university, has met most of the requirements set by the National Council of Higher Education, Dr. Daphrosa Gahakwa, the Minister of Education has confirmed.

Saturday, June 07, 2008
Unilak has been seeking accreditation for over 10 years. (Photo / E. Mucunguzi).

GASABO - Universite Laique Adventiste de Kigali (Unilak), the Kigali based private university, has met most of the requirements set by the National Council of Higher Education, Dr. Daphrosa Gahakwa, the Minister of Education has confirmed.

"There is a tremendous progress exhibited at the university to meet accreditation and I am optimistic that by the end of this year, the institution will be meeting academic standards,” Gahakwa said Wednesday in an interview at her office in Kacyiru.

She added that the ministry will send external lecturers to test students and confirm that skills meet international standards.

Started in 1997, Unilak has been seeking accreditation from the Ministry of Education for the last 11 years. Close to 5,103 Unilak students are trapped in a longstanding wrangle between the private university and the ministry which has until now refused to grant a license to the institution.

Over 475 students who completed their academic courses in law and management between 2003 and 2007 at Unilak are still without official academic transcripts.

Senators, worried that Unilak graduates were unable to find employment, last year petitioned government to take immediate action to ensure that the university is accredited.

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