EDUCATION AUTHORITY TO SCRUTINISE VARSITIES
OF the over 400 universities registered with PACRA, only 60 are accredited with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and now the authority is set to institute investigations to ascertain the status of the nonaccredited one. HEA director-general, Professor Stephen Simukanga said that all universities were supposed to be accreted with the authority before they could start operating. He warned that certificates obtained from universities that were not accredited with HEA were not recognised anywhere. Prof Simukanga said that the over 350 universities not accredited with HEA would have to be accredited with the authority if they were to operate as businesses. “Anyone can register a university with PACRA, just the name but have to accredit with us before operations begin,” he said. Prof Simukanga said the authority had recruited about 13 inspectors to check the status of the universities which were not accredited. He said that the inspectors, including those already employed by the authority would soon start checking on the said universities. He said that the inspector would have to check the physical address of the nonaccredited universities and check whether they were operational or not. Prof Simukanga disclosed that he had engaged PACRA to ensure that it advised people who wanted to register university businesses to check with the HEA. “We engaged PACRA but they told us that their job is to register businesses and that it did not matter whether they are already accredited or not. We however agreed that they should be advising them to check with us first,” he said. And Prof Simukanga said that the HEA would not comment on the high failure rate at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) because it was not under its mandate. He said that ZIALE, like the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), was created by an Act of Parliament and regulated by other bodies.