By Limpho Sello
MASERU — The Council on Higher Education (CHE) has warned the public against enrolling with unregistered colleges.
In a statement last week CHE chief executive ’Makotelo Motseko said people should be wary of institutions that are inviting them to register for programmes that are not accredited by the council.
The council has said with effect from August 28, 2012 no new programmes should be offered by any higher education institution in Lesotho unless they have been accredited.
Motseko said despite this announcement a number of institutions have continued to enrol students into new programmes.
Such institutions, she said, are violating the law.
She said people who register for these programmes will be doing so at their own risk because the council will not recognise their qualifications.
A qualification that is not recognised by the council will be useless.
Holders will not be able to enrol with other colleges using academic records that are not recognised by the council.
Motseko said a school should either produce evidence of its registration with CHE or Technical Vocation Department (TVD).
If not yet registered the school should provide evidence that it’s working towards the accreditation of its programmes by the CHE.
“By this announcement, the CHE calls on members of the general public to exercise extreme caution in dealing with several invitations by individuals and/or institutions to register for new academic programmes that have not been accredited by CHE,” Motseko said.
Section 37(7) of the Higher Education Act 2004 gives the registrar within the Ministry of Education and Training powers to register a private higher education institution in consultation with the Council on Higher Education.
An institution can only be accredited if it meets a range of conditions, including the finances, governance and management structures, quality assurance system and programme accreditation.
Motseko added that even institutions that are recognised by CHE are only authorised to enrol students into programmes that existed before August 28, 2012.
She said there are currently 14 institutions that are recognised by the council.
She said these institutions that include the National University of Lesotho, Lesotho College of Education, Lerotholi Polytechnic, Lesotho Agricultural College are already working towards the accreditation of their programmes.
The other institutions are Lesotho Institute of Public Administration and Management,
Centre for Accounting Studies, Institute of Development Management, National Health Training College, Paray School of Nursing, Maluti School of Nursing, Roma College Nursing, Scott School of Nursing, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology and Lesotho Boston Health Alliance.
“Any other institution that has enrolled or is admitting students into a higher learning education programme or programmes without either showing evidence of registration with the TVD or evidence of preparations for accreditation of programmes by CHE as one of the pre-conditions for registration is operating illegally,” Motseko said.
“Members of the public are advised to desist from spending their hard-earned money on programmes offered by institutions that are operating illegally.”
