JKUAT PhDs: It has now emerged that the 118 PhDs that were issued by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were issued through a flawed process.
Apparently, multiple rules were broken. A report that appeared in the Daily Nation says that analysis of the awards shows a lecturer Prof Gregory S. Namusonge supervised 16 doctorate students, which is against the Commission for University Education (CUE) requirement of one lecturer per three PhD students. The maximum number of students an academic staff shall supervise in any given academic year shall be: master’s – 5 and doctorate – 3. The rules also provide that the maximum lecturer workload will be 40 hours per week and will include teaching; preparation of examination papers; marking of examination scripts; tutorials; preparation of teaching; supervision of academic work; administrative work; laboratory and laboratory preparation; and research or research assignments.
“Prof Namusonge is the Dean, School of Entrepreneurship, Procurement and Management. Prof Romanus Odhiambo, who is now the Vice Chancellor of Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) supervised 14 students, while Prof Maurice Sakwa had 10 candidates. Dr Susan Were supervised seven candidates, Dr Agnes Njeru had six, and Dr Esther Waiganjo had five PhD students. The supervisors are from the College of Human Resource Development which had the biggest number of PhDs graduates. Prof Hellen Mberia supervised four PhD students in Mass Communication. The university based in Juja, Kiambu County, also graduated 660 master’s students which means they were also supervised by some of the lecturers who checked the work of the PhD students. Doctorate and master’s students are supposed to be supervised by lecturers with doctorate degrees,” says the report in the Daily Nation.
List of all JKUAT Degree Courses (Updated 2019)
The paper further reported that out of the 118, PhDs awarded, the College of Human Resource Development had the biggest number of PhDs (89) of which 40 were Doctor of Philosophy (Business Administration). The fewest doctorates were in the fields of science and technology, areas which the university is best known for. School of Engineering only managed to produce four PhDs, College of Agriculture, for which the university is named, only produced six PhDs, and College of Pure and Applied Sciences produced seven PhDs while College of Health Sciences produced 10 PhDs.
