Rwandan graduates from Cavendish University Uganda appeal for support as their qualifications are ‘rejected’

By The Inspirer

Rwandans who graduated from Cavendish University Uganda are in dilemma after their qualifications are considered inadequate by labour regulators, and are being rejected by employers.

The graduates were given recognition of academic qualifications by the Higher Education Council (HEC) after petitioning the Rwanda Parliament in 2018 to help them have their degrees accepted as they were considered inadequate by employers.

In the letter of August 12, 2018, the graduates requested the Parliament to make advocacy for them so that they get equivalence – an official document that proves the degrees they got are accepted by HEC and equivalent to Rwandan educational levels.

HEC granted them the recognition instead of equivalence because they had graduated from a university that had not yet gotten a full accreditation – it had a provisional accreditation.

Meanwhile, Cavendish University Uganda wrote a letter – signed by its Vice-Chancellor Prof. John Francis Mugisha – to HEC on November 26, 2020, reiterating that it is “fully licensed by the Ugandan  authorities to conduct university education programmes, provided they are accredited by the NHCE as it is required if every university in Uganda.”

NHCE is Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education.

The graduates argued that HEC said that the official document play the role as the equivalence that the higher education regulator gives to those who graduated from foreign universities.

The affected graduates said that the issue first occurred this year when the National Public Service Commission carried out an audit in Ngororero District and told the district that the graduates who were recruited and employed in January 2020 were falling short of the requirements.

Innocent Ryambabaje, one of the concerned graduates, and their representative estimated that 1,800 graduates from the Cavendish University have so far been granted the recognition of academic qualifications.

He said that about 200 of them are currently affected by the current issue. He explained that some of the graduates from Cavendish University Uganda had done teacher recruitment exams and were expecting to be placed in schools for teaching job after succeeding the exams.

Others were recruited based on their academic performance (under the new recruitment method by the Rwanda Education Board). But, they are not being given appointment letters because their qualifications are considered inadequate.

Ryambabaje said he studied English and Kiswahili with education at the university in question, where he graduated with a bachelors’ degree in 2015 after doing four years.

“I had done recruitment examination and passed it. I would start teaching in a secondary school starting from December 1, 2020 but I was not given an appointment letter as a result of the problem,” he said.

Another graduate who preferred anonymity said that he has been employed as a teacher at a secondary school, but he is worried he might lose his job because of the issue at hand.

“We spent time and money studying; but we are shocked to hear that our qualifications are not accepted, yet we have a recognition from HEC,” he said, calling for support to help them have their degrees valued.

The graduates said that they exposed their problem to institutions including HEC, the National Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Public Service and Labour.

Concerned graduates given a year’s time ‘to fulfill the academic requirements’

On October 15, 2020, HEC wrote a letter digitally signed by its Executive Director Mukankomeje saying that an employee who has Recognition of Academic Qualifications should be treated as having incomplete official documentation.

The letter was responding to Ngororero District’s request for advice from HEC on the issue of [some of] its members of staff whom the audit of the National Public Service Commission said they were not entitled to the job because they had recognition of academic qualifications instead of equivalence.

The letter explained that as long as the reasons they were not given “equivalence” still exist, they have a provisional certificate only indicating that they studied, but that the Council could not equate their degrees with those from Rwanda.

However, it said, when the graduate fulfills all the requirements, they are entitled to equivalence.

Responding to the graduates’ concerns, HEC Executive Director, Rose Mukankomeje said that the Ministry of Public Service and Labour “(MIFOTRA) has given a way forward to this question.”

According to a letter from MIFOTRA, a candidate who has passed a recruitment exam is allowed to be placed in job when they complete documentation including equivalence granted by HEC for a degree conferred by a foreign university or higher learning institution.