New Job Requirement: Will ‘PhD’ University Lecturers Produce Employable Graduates?

New Job Requirement: Will ‘PhD’ University Lecturers Produce Employable Graduates?

By Jane Okoth

The job of a university lecturer is very demanding and requires a strong educational background accompanied with unique skills.

Those who aspire to be lecturers should tighten their educational belt because you may need more than just a master’s degree to lecture in a university.

This is in reference to an article on the business daily that only holders of PhDs will be allowed to lecture in universities following the introduction of fresh guidelines by the universities’ regulator.

The paper reports that “the Commission for University Education (CUE) said the new guidelines would be adopted by all universities, including those owned by private investors, and implemented over five years.”

Prof David Some, Secretary of the Commission for University Education (CUE) said that “It is now a basic requirement that for one to be a lecturer he/she has to be a holder of a doctoral degree.”

This brings to an end the current criteria where each university had a different formula of promoting and appointing lecturers.

“I fully support this amendment because it will raise the quality of education in our universities. It is high time something is finally done to our academic lives,” says Gideon Kamau, a Law Student at a Public University.

“The move is a good one but I really doubt if it will work considering the high rate of corruption in our country,” says Fredrick, a Clearing Agent at a transporting company.

“It has now reached a point where you can take as little as less than a year to complete a university degree. For instance, look at the number of politicians in the country taking the less duration to complete their degrees.

If it is the requirement of lecturers that they have to have PHD in order to lecturer, what will stop them from acquiring it using deceiving ways?” he asks.

Stephen Ombogo a social worker at a private school agrees that “The move will further degrade the quality of education”

He advises that “What needs to be done is to just amend the whole educational curriculum in the various universities.”

“I remember when I was pursuing a diploma in my course; our lecturer had only a degree with some experience.” says Brian Mpaka, now a university graduate.

“To me that was a real joke because it is just equivalent to letting a high school graduate teach in a public primary school,” he says.

He also adds that “Education has already has been commercialized in the country and what matters now is how much you have to get that education you need.”

“They should also transfer the amendments to colleges and other technical institutions, “says Rogers Mwanga, a Lecturer at a technical institution in the country.

We cannot just fill everyone to be lecturers in our higher learning institutions just because they passed through university, he says.

Talk to us….do you think the PhD Requirement will get rid of the ‘half baked graduates’ era?

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