Daystar University put on spot over outdated courses

University education regulator, Commission for University Education (CUE) has found numerous outdated courses being taught at the prestigious Daystar University, among other administrative blunders in its latest report.

Among others, the institution is also said to have poor governance and academic staff quality issues, an expose which comes barely a month after students protested, forcing its temporary closure.

“Courses... not properly structured as at times some are not on offer, and students are at times required to undertake courses meant for upper years of their study and enrollment in some academic programmes has been declining,” states the CUE report.

As a measure, CUE has ordered the university to conduct regular review of its programmes as provided for in its curriculum review policy.

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“The curriculum is also outdated as it is of year 2006, therefore not relevant to the market. The Communication and Performing Arts academic programme has inadequate and outdated facilities. Core courses books in the library are outdated.

“Teaching in music is very restricted as there are no adequate resources like music instruments. Music programme has manly part-time lecturers. There is no music studio and students are required to travel at their own cost to studios in Westlands,” notes the report.

In the inspection report, CUE has also directed the university to comply with universities standards and guidelines on full-time to part-time academic staff ratio as well as adhere to policy on minimum number of students per class.

The university is also on the spot for having a Bachelor of Law degree programme that has not been enrolled into.

The university has only one professor and nine associate professors but management has promised to improve on the issue.

23-year-old courses

The university is required to review its curriculum after every five years, but the report says there is no evidence for curriculum review for programmes accredited 23 years ago.

The report also notes that Computer Science equipment have been outdated and slow, and that concerns raised by students are not responded to.

The university is also on the spot over the grading scale which the report says it is not clear since GPAs of 2.0 and 3.7 are indicated as average.

However, in their response the institution said it operates a GPA grading system on the scale of 4.0.

Other weaknesses that were identified by CUE included: lack of proper maintenance of accommodation facilities, failure of some programmes to expose students to research projects and attachment, inadequate medical services for students, and requiring students to pay for participation of activities that take place outside the university.

The report also points out shortcomings in other departments, citing nursing programmes where lecturers don’t attend practicums, as they are not provided with transport and the library is not adequately stocked for science students.