A court has ruled in favor of some 75 students who failed to secure employment using an engineering degree awarded by Technical University of Kenya (TUK).
The High Court awarded Sh15 million to the former University of Nairobi students.
The learners were admitted for engineering courses by the University of Nairobi (UoN) between 2009 and 2011, when Kenya Polytechnic (which later became TUK) was a constituent college of UoN.
They were, however, awarded degrees from TUK, which is not recognised by the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK).
The graduates argued that they were unable to secure jobs because the engineering courses at TUK are not recognised by board(EBK).
In his ruling, Justice James Makau directed TUK to forward the names of the students to UoN to be included in the list of graduates during the next graduation.
“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 Makau said.
The court found that 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 judge noted that the students expected degrees awarded 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,” Justice Makau ruled.
