Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) says it is determined to end the practice where students use fake documents to get entry into higher learning institutions in and outside country.
KNQA Director General Dr Juma Mukhwana says the agency is now part of an international network of institutions that are working to ensure that only quality and genuine qualifications cross borders and find jobs or even training in other countries.
Dr Mukhwana says this work has been made more difficult by the rapidly changing technology which has made it easier to forge documents and increase mobility.
He estimates that Kenya receives more than 30,000 foreign students seeking to study in Kenya and they mostly come from Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, DRC Congo, Tanzania, and any other countries.
“We are now keenly monitoring the number of students coming into the country to study and Kenyans leaving the country to study in other countries. Popular foreign qualifications for Kenyans include those from Britain, Australia, USA, Canada, and South Africa,” adds Dr Mukhwana.
He explains that the agency is working around the clock to ensure that all these qualifications being brought into the country are genuine and meet the standards set by the government.
According to the regulations published in 2018, no foreign qualifications should be used to seek for employment or studies unless they have been assessed by the authority and issued with a certification of recognition, equation and/or verification.
There is now African Union the African Qualifications Verification Network (AQVN) to support the mobility of students and workers with KNQA being a founding member.
According to Dr Mukhwana, there was a lot of confusion regarding management of foreign qualifications before the establishment of the KNQA since the interpretation of these qualifications had been left to employers and training institutions.
“So our work has brought harmony and order in this sector. Employers now refer all employees with foreign qualifications to the KNQA for equation before employing them. Universities and higher educational institutions similarly do the same before admitting students,” he observes.
The KNQA which is established under the Kenya National Qualifications Framework Act no 22 of 2014 is mandated to act as the custodian of Kenyan Qualifications, set standards and create international comparability between Kenyan and other qualifications from across the world.
The KNQA has developed and published 10 levels of the Kenyan qualifications and the standards that must be made for training at each of these levels.
The KNQA has also established international networks to monitor all qualifications awarded globally and carries out research to ensure that Kenyan qualifications keep pace with best practices in the rest of the world.
The authority is also warning tertiary institutions that have no legal mandate of issuing certificates to stop.
“We have a number of institutions especially the private ones that are only licensed to train and not award certificates but they go ahead and award their students papers that bear no value to both the holder and the potential employer,” warns Dr Mukhwana.
