Be warned of these 4 tertiary institutions

MBABANE – The Eswatini Higher Education Council (ESHEC) urges the public not to utilise services of four tertiary institutions that are operating without recognition.

These institutions have been added to the other four institutions whose registration for the current year was denied.

The four were identified as Covenant Christian College in Mbabane, International Executive Training Centre in Manzini, Sign Language College and Tisukumele Life Skills, also in Manzini

Established

ESHEC is an independent body corporate that was established in 2015, through the Higher Education Act No. 2 of 2013. It is responsible for the registration, establishment, accreditation and regulation of all institutions of higher learning, such as colleges and universities as stipulated in the Act.

Just a month ago, ESHEC published both in the print media and on its official website and/or social media platforms a list of accredited institutions, both private and public, that were eligible to operate within the Kingdom of Eswatini, including universities, colleges and other institutions.

In terms of the law, institutions that were not part of the list, and or that had not been accredited to operate in terms of Section 21 (1), Section 22 (1), read together with Section 22 (2) and Section 25 (1) and (2) of the Higher Education Act, are to cease operation immediately and seek to comply with the provisions of the Act and/or get accreditation and registration.

ESHEC’s Executive Director Dr Loretta Mkhonta said it had since came to their attention, that despite the publication of the list of accredited institutions, there were certain institutions (colleges and/or universities) which were operating outside the scope of the Higher Education Act No. 2 of 2013.

“To this end, these colleges and universities continue to violate the Act. Despite numerous engagements with some of them to cease operations, they have continued to operate and some of them are unknown to ESHEC and in fact have never applied for registration,” she said.

The executive director stated that these entities continued to issue advertisements on print media and social media, that they were providing lessons and or courses, enrol students for learning at their institution.

Mkhonta said the institutions also provided learning facilities and accepted tuition fees from unsuspecting members of the public and students alike.

For the reasons stated, Mkhonta advised members of the public and potential students, as well as the current students, that Covenant Christian College in Mbabane, International Executive Training Centre in Manzini, Sign Language College and Tisukumele Life Skills, also in Manzini, were operating without authorisation.

Unregistered

“The above-named institutions are unregistered and members of the public are advised not to register and/or deal with these entities for any training services until ESHEC advises the public that they are now in compliance with the Higher Education Act No.2 of 2013 and/or are fully registered to provide any lessons and/ or courses to members of the public,” she said.

She went on to state that any members of the public or students who would proceed to deal with the four institutions after the notice, were doing so at their own risk and ESHEC would not be responsible for any registration and tuition paid to these institutions.

Further, Mkhonta said there were other institutions which were being monitored by ESHEC, which were in contravention of the Act, as they were not accredited and/or registered, yet they continued to advertise and provide lessons to members of the public.

Operations

The executive director said the entities were also advised to cease operations and contact ESHEC for assistance to have their institutions compliant.

These were Management Training and Development Institute (MTDI), WESCO College, St John Ambulance and CFCI College.

She emphasised the need to always verify with ESHEC if an institution was fully-registered and or was operating lawfully, to avoid scammers and such institutions from receiving and taking money from members of the public, yet they were unregistered and could not issue out certificates to its students. She said they could verify by accessing the list of fully-registered and accredited institutions updated in February 2023 at ESHEC Offices and on their official website, which is www.eshec.org.sz.