By Saio Marrah
The fate of over 300 Sierra Leoneans enrolled with the Africa Graduate University (AGU-SL) is on the balance, after the institution was ordered to shut down due to lack of accreditation.
The Africa Graduate University is a global educational institution which was first established in 2012 in Uganda and has since spread to several countries, according to a website affiliated with the institution.
AGU-SL was ordered to close shop by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) late last month, after some of its students raised alarm over its accreditation status. Situated on Tower Hill in Freetown, AGU-SL has been operating in the country since 2012, according to official documents seen by Politico. It has conferred both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees to dozens of people during the course of this period.
Suspicion arouse when employers and other learning institutions refused to recognize the certificates conferred by the university.
One of the concerned students, Ndemowoma Y. Mustapha, told Politico that the university’s administration had told them that they were registered and accredited by the TEC and that they were also affiliated with the Africa Graduate University in Uganda, among many other universities globally, which they later learnt were all false claims.
“Our senior colleagues have not been able to get job or pursue their master’s degree in other universities because employers and other university authorities do not recognize the African Graduate University as a university, but simply a syndicate,” Mustapha said.
Mustapha, who is a third year student at the university, wrote a complaint letter to the TEC, sparking the decision to order its closure.
“… the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), in accordance with its mandate to regulate all tertiary institutions in Sierra Leone and to ensure parity of esteem of the institutions and products, hereby instructs you to cease operating with immediate effect, until you have fulfilled the requirements for registration and accreditation,” the letter dated 23th October, 2020, signed by Executive Secretary Ronnie Frazer-Williams, reads.
According to the TEC, Mustapha was the second person to report AGU-SL over its accreditation status.
And the concerned students wondered why the university continued operating even after the regulatory agency had ordered it not to operate. The students also questioned why the TEC, in what is a major departure from its modus operandi, did not issue a public statement declaring AGU-SL illegal and instead only sent them a letter in apparent secrecy.
Contacted by Politico, the university authorities confirmed that it was not accredited by the TEC. An official however said that it was because they were yet to complete the construction of their own campus, which is a criteria for accreditation.
Dr. Mohamed Y. Bangura, Vice Chancellor of AGU-SL, said the accreditation process is at an advance stage, having already paid the fees. But he denied claims by the students that the university was not affiliated with other international universities, presenting documents to support his claim.
According to one of the documents, AGU Sierra Leone is affiliated with the Africa Graduate University in Somalia. Another document showed that AGU-SL was accredited to the Academy of Business Management in Switzerland between 2016 and 2017. A third document from AGU-Uganda didn’t clearly indicate any affiliation to AGU-SL, except that it is an international university.
Politico understands that AGU-SL began as a privately run institution in 2001, under the name - College of Professional Studies - Sierra Leone.
Officials say its affiliation with AGU accorded it a universal accreditation status with a horde of international learning institutions, including AGU-Uganda, St. Mary’s University-Ethiopia, ABMS-Open University Switzerland, and the Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities (ASIC-UK). According to the officials, on completion of their studies, students are awarded certificates by these external partners.
But the students say the certificates they received have not been recognized by institutions either for job opportunities or enrolment for further studies.
Bintiatu Silla enrolled at the institution in 2016 for a Bachelor’s degree in public health and she was supposed to graduate in 2019.
Due to family reasons, Bintiatu, resigned from her job, with her only hope being to complete her studies and then seek another job.
Although she confirmed that the university did tell them that they were only accredited internationally, Bintiatu said they were regularly assured of the imminent accreditation with the TEC.
She said because AGU-SL is not locally accredited, its graduates can only be issued certificates by the international affiliate bodies at the cost of $300. She said they soon learnt that one of their colleague graduate was rejected when they sought enrollment abroad.
Bintiatu said they also heard that even Njala University rejected another graduate, noting that further investigation revealed that many other graduates had been going through the same experience in silence. Even fellow students who were working and later studied at AGU-SL couldn’t get promotion based on their AGU certificates, she said.
“That was a big blow and it’s paining us,” Silla complained in a telephone interview.
She said since she is a public health student, it becomes complicated for her, as no one will be inclined to employer her under such circumstances.
But the AGU-SL administration denied this.
Dr Pious Sampha Kargbo, Deputy Vice Chancellor, said they have record of many AGU-SL graduates, including senior officers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), who enrolled at international institutions, including the famous Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), as well as in China.
Dr Kargbo said every student admitted into AGU-SL was told that the institution was operating under an international accreditation. He said they were working on domesticating the accreditation process and that they were informing the students about the development every step of the way.
Rolland Jones, Public Relations Officer of the TEC, confirmed to Politico that AGU-SL had started the accreditation process, following the commission’s order for the university to stop all academic activities until it was cleared to do so.
Jones also confirmed that they received two complaints from the students. The TEC spokesman however noted that the reason why they didn’t issue a public statement on the issue is that they usually write institutions first to encourage them to comply before going public.
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