This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On June 21, 2019, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) held its 33rd graduation ceremony, awarding 118 PhDs to its students. However, a recent investigation has uncovered widespread irregularities in the awarding of these degrees.
According to a report submitted by the Commission for University Education (CUE) to Education Secretary George Magoha, JKUAT flouted its own training and supervision rules in awarding the PhDs. The report highlights several cases of poor monitoring of students' progress during PhD training.
One of the key findings of the report is that 58 students, or 65 percent of the 89 College of Human Resource Development (CoHRED) PhD graduates, were trained in the university's eight satellite campuses, despite the majority of qualified academic staff being based on the main campus.
The report also reveals that there was no evidence of meetings between supervisors and supervisees, and that the board of examiners that sat to consider the oral presentations had as few as four members against a threshold of at least six set by the university's Statutes.
Furthermore, the report states that most of the examination reports submitted were not comprehensive enough to improve the quality of the work of the students, and that the Board of Examiners' reports for the oral examination identified fundamental weaknesses in the theses yet went ahead to give a verdict not consistent with the findings.
The report also raises concerns about the academic integrity of the PhDs awarded, stating that most of the students published in journals hosted by AJPO Journals in which a number of academic staff of CoHRED had interest, and that out of the 118 PhD graduates, 112 had been approved by Senate and their names appeared in the Graduation Booklet.
As a result of these findings, CUE has given the University Senate three months to meet and review the PhDs that were awarded during the 33rd Graduation ceremony held on June 21. The commission has also directed JKUAT to submit to CUE evidence of the students' publication of two articles in referred journals for each PhD awarded, failure to which the non-conforming PhDs will be recalled until the graduation requirement is fulfilled.
Moreover, CUE has directed JKUAT to review all PhDs awarded in the past graduations, a total of 327 PhD degrees and 2,101 master's degrees were awarded during the 31st, 32nd and 33rd graduation ceremonies held in June 2018, November 2018 and June 2019.
