The Undersecretary in the South Sudan’s Ministry of Higher Education says they will investigate the legality of Busoga University’s operations in South Sudan, after it emerged that the institution awarded degrees to South Sudan without following educational procedures.

Busoga, is a Ugandan private university which stands accused of unfairly awarding degrees to more than a hundred South Sudanese within a few months.

An investigation committee formed in Uganda found that the University graduated more than 1,000 students, including 137 from South Sudan and unspecified number of Nigerians, who never completed the programme duration while others never met the minimum admission requirements.

Media reports quote the education attache at the embassy in Kampala as saying that the university did not consider proper procedures to award the degrees this year. The graduates were reportedly from an affiliate private university in Juba.

5 months degrees

According to the Daily Monitor newspaper, the Council of Higher Education in Kampala has now revoked the license of Busoga University over the matter. Investigations into the fake degrees scandal found that the affected students were awarded degrees on September 30 after studying for only five months while others didn’t fulfill the minimum entry requirements.

The team also found out that the so-called ”Juba students” were in fact Cavendish University students and neither of Busoga University nor of Starlight International College, Juba.

The Ugandan National Council for Higher Education then annulled all the suspect degrees.

“None of the students satisfied the entry requirements. There was no evidence of student progressive assessment nor was there any evidence of final assessments. The students presented foreign qualifications, not verified by NCHE/UNEB (Uganda National Examinations Board),” the committee observed.

South Sudan to investigate

The Undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education in South Sudan, Professor Bol Deng says the branch of Busoga University in Juba may be closed if it does not possess the required documents.

“I will write officially to our embassy there in Uganda so that they find out, and this will help us also to take action,” said Deng.

Professor Deng also said students who were awarded “fake” degrees at Busoga University will be able to enroll at the University of Juba to complete their courses through the right procedure.

He said the administration of the University of Juba has been notified to receive the students.

Busoga University was founded by Busoga Diocese, Church of Uganda in 1999. The institution prides itself as an agent of social and economic development of the region and Uganda as a whole.