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Recently 231 university students learnt that the degrees they had been awarded were recognized. The university in question, Newport University, which also exists in the USA, is not accredited by any agency recognised by the US Department of Education. It is one of several institutions operating in California without accreditation but with licensure by the Bureau of Private and Vocational Higher Education of the State of California.

231 students have obtained degree certificates from a Nairobi university with no official sanction to operate. As a result the certificates risk be useless. The Government did nothing to stop these students pursuing an expensive four-year programme.

Le Conseil interuniversitaire de l'Afrique de l'Est (IUCEA) est sur le point de développer un système destiné à normaliser les diplômes proposés par les universités locales. Selon le secrétaire de direction du Conseil, la plupart des Kényans souhaitent intégrer une université en Ouganda du fait de coûts d'inscription inférieurs à ceux de leurs universités locales. Cependant, ils ne s'assurent pas de la conformité de la qualité de l'enseignement dispensé par les universités ougandaises aux normes en vigueur.

People in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have been found buying fake degrees of all sorts from diploma mills and other bogus universities. Those universities have no physical existence and operate only through websites. Most diploma mills are operating from Britain or United States where academic standards are presumed to be very high. Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigations compiled a list of over 10,000 persons who obtained fake degrees from diploma mills in USA. A significant number of them are from South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. Currently, there are about 80 notorious diploma mills that operate from the United States and the UK.

The principals allege that the number of slots they are being asked to reserve during the Form One selection, are enormous and suspect sinister motives on the part of the Ministry of Education. The ministry's officers have stated that this policy was adopted in order to cater for returning diplomats' children and other special and deserving cases.

Universities in two East African countries, Kenya and Tanzania, have come under fire for prolifically awarding honorary degrees – in some cases allegedly for money and in others in return for influence.

Nairobi — Higher Education minister has said he will not resign over a Sh96m fraud charge leveled against him in court.

Last week, Kenya fired its Higher Education Minister who had been suspended from cabinet last year following allegations of graft.

Kenya has published new rules and put more than 200 institutions on notice in a crackdown that will see 21 managers facing criminal charges for operating illegal colleges, with 63 having been closed over the past year. The action comes in the wake of government plans to bankroll institutions in this key education sector, to help them cope with the rising demand for skills.

Foreign universities offering degrees in Kenya without accreditation will be fined at least Sh10 million and their promoters sent to jail for three years under a new law meant to safeguard education standards. The Commission on University Education (CUE) will replace the Commission of Higher Education in overseeing university standards.