Unilak to be accredited

KIGALI - The standoff between the Ministry of education and the Université Laïque Adventiste de Kigali (Unilak), a Kigali- based private campus over accreditation has ended. The Minister of Education, Dr. Daphorosa Gahakwa has said the university has met nearly all the requirements needed by the National Council for Higher Education. “We shall have accredited it by December this year. They have improved a lot and the ministry is happy,” said Gahakwa in a telephone interview on Thursday. The NCHE had in the past refused to accredit the university, saying it did not have the capacity to provide quality education. Started in 1997, Unilak has been struggling to get accreditation from the Ministry of Education for the last 10 years in vain. “We shall visit Unilak before the end of this year to do the final assessment. But reports reaching us are positive,” the Minister said. The move to probe Unilak for accreditation came about when the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) came into existence last year. The NCHE operates under the Education ministry and is mandated to ensure quality and oversee the planning of all tertiary institutions in the country. When contacted Friday, Unilak’s Rector, Emmanuel Ngamije, said the university has fully complied with all that is needed to acquire an operating license. He said the campus will keep adding on what it has already achieved. Ngamije added that the primary requirements for them to be accredited have been finalised and the workers’ code of conduct which was part of the requirements had been met by the university. “We have completed one of the modern libraries with enough books that meet University standard.s We have recruited about 50 permanent lecturers with Masters degrees and above,” he explained. Parliament had last year made calls to solve the university’s problem saying Unilak students were victims of circumstances and must be helped to get equal opportunities like their counterparts in other universities. Over 475 students who completed their academic courses in law and management between 2003 and 2007 at Unilak are frustrated after failing to get their academic transcripts because the university is not legally recognised. Ends