Suspended varsities have three months to comply or face permanent closure

The 10 higher institutions of learning that were suspended in March have only three months left to meet all the requirements needed by Higher Education Council (HEC). Failure to comply, they face permanent closure of either the entire institutions or the affected programmes. This was said yesterday by officials during a meeting held at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Kacyiru. A comprehensive external audit of higher learning institutions in Rwanda was undertaken in 2016/2017 which led to the suspension of some institutions while others had some programmes halted. Among the affected institutions are Institut d’Enseignement Superieur (INES-Ruhengeri) and Institut Superieur Pedagogique de Gitwe (ISPG-Gitwe). According to HEC, only these two universities (INES and ISPG) have approached them requesting to be assessed, to allow them re-open their programmes. The assessment has since shown that major progress has been made by the two institutions, in terms of putting in place laboratory equipments, and human resources, HEC officials said. The Ruhango District-based ISPG was specifically commended for putting up an anatomy laboratory which is one of the kind in the country, in a bid to provide a good learning environment for their students. At ISPG, the programmes that were suspended include; medicine and surgery, general nursing, and medical laboratory technology. According to HEC, the institution has been able to meet almost all the requirements; however, it faces a challenge in terms of institutional governance, leadership and academic management, which is very crucial as far as education is concerned. Prof. Okwach Abagi, an expert in institutional development said, that for any academic institution to excel, its governance and academic management should be considered. He was one of the experts who conducted the audit. ISPG therefore didn’t meet the conditions, thus none of its programmes were re-opened, the officials said. For the INES, it was able to meet all the requirements; however, it had to undertake further investment in hiring additional qualified and experienced academic faculty and laboratory technicians. INES was only allowed to re-open computer science and biotechnology programmes out of five previously suspended courses. Others will be allowed to operate after fulfilling the outstanding requirements. Civil engineering and biomedical laboratory courses at INES were again put on hold until they meet what is needed. The two universities were given detailed individual reports with specific recommendations. Dr Emmanuel Muvunyi, the Director of the HEC, commended the two institutions for the steps they have made and said that what is remaining is not too much for them to clear before they can be allowed to reopen. The students who were affected, Muvunyi said should see this as a blessing, because they were paying a lot of money for sub- standard education. “They will be able to get what is appropriate when they go back,” he says. For the remaining eight institutions, they have to meet the conditions by September 13, or face permanent closure of the affected programmes, officials said. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Suspended varsities have three months to comply or face permanent closure