Court awards students Sh15m after failing to secure jobs with degree

The High Court has awarded Sh15 million to 75 former students for failing to secure jobs using an engineering degree awarded by Technical University of Kenya (TUK), which is not recognised by the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK).

The former students were admitted for engineering courses by the University of Nairobi (UoN) but were later awarded degrees from TUK against their expectation. The learners were admitted between 2009 and 2011, when Kenya Polytechnic (which later became TUK) was a constituent college of UoN.

They argued that they were unable to secure jobs because the engineering courses at TUK are not recognised by EBK. 

“I am therefore in agreement with the petitioners that they were students of the UoN and were entitled to be awarded degrees by the university in the absence of any legal provisions transferring the responsibility of awarding degree certificates to the TUK,” Justice James Makau ruled.

The judge also directed TUK to forward the names of the students to UoN to be included in the list of graduants during the next graduation.

The judge said where there is need for accreditation with a professional body before a course is offered, then there is a legitimate expectation that the learning institution has obtained the necessary clearances before offering the courses.

The court noted that the students cannot be registered as engineers because the course is not recognised hence denying them a chance to be employed.

Justice Makau said the expectation of the students was that upon completing their studies they would be awarded degrees by UoN and not TUK.

“In the circumstances I find that the TUK and the UoN violated the petitioners’ legitimate expectation that the degree certificates to be awarded to them would be from the UoN and not any other university,” he said.