The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) has warned the public against joining Fairland University.
NCHE warned at the weekend that the institution has failed to address provisions set by the body.
Ms Faridah Shamilah Bukirwa, the NCHE senior legal officer, said in an interview that they have informed the university that the postgraduate and honorary degrees they are offering are illegal since the university is not chartered as provided for in the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act.
She also warned the public against joining the institution’s two study centres in Seeta, Mukono District and in western Uganda because the council does not recognise them.
“We have informed the university that the honorary and master’s degrees it has been offering and has awarded are null since NCHE doesn’t permit an unlicensed university to do so. Also the two study centres are illegal because they have not been approved. The university is running several unaccredited courses. All the graduates will not be recognised by council,” Ms Bikirwa told Daily Monitor.
Fairland University in Jinja has been battling in court with NCHE after the latter issued a notice to revoke a provisional licence in 2009 if the former failed to comply with the body’s standards. Three years later, the High Court in Jinja ruled in favour of NCHE. In the ruling, Judge Irene Mulyagonja Kakooza said: “The applicant (Fairland University) cannot continue to sustain its operations”.
In April 2009, a team from NCHE concluded that “the university still fell far below the NCHE standards in the area of governance; that the courses that were being taught were taught illegally”.
Efforts to get a comment from Fairland University were fruitless as their office phones went unanswered.
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