Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini is not the only
leader the kingdom to
accept a bogus ‘doctorate’ – King Mswati III has one too.
He got his from Swaziland’s controversial Limkokwing University in July 2013.
He got his from Swaziland’s controversial Limkokwing University in July 2013.
In return, he granted
Limkokwing land for the institution to build a permanent site in his kingdom.
At a ceremony,
Limkokwing announced the King would receive his Ph.D doctorate in ‘human
capital development’ in recognition of the King’s ‘commitment to improving the
lives of the Swazi people’.
The announcement
was greeted by ‘rapturous applause’ that lasted ‘several minutes’, according to
a report at the time in the Weekend
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King himself.
However, nobody pointed
out that Limkokwing did not award doctorates to students in the usual course of
events because it is not really a university. Limkokwing, which is based in Malaysia,
has set up branches in Africa in Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland. They have all
been attacked for the poor quality of their staff and the inferior courses they
offer.
In Swaziland, Limkokwing offers ‘associate degrees’, a
term invented to disguise the fact that they are courses inferior to a bachelor
degree. Associate degrees are better known in other educational institutions as
‘diplomas’.
In June 2012, after one year of operation Bandile
Mkhonta, Head of Human Resource for Limkokwing in Mbabane, Swaziland, told
local media that of 53 professional staff at the university; only one had a
Ph.D doctorate. A Ph.D is often
considered by universities to be the minimum qualification required to be given
the rank of senior lecturer.
The Swazi Observer
reported Mkhonta saying Limkokwing had fewer Ph.Ds because it was a
‘non-conventional’ university whose curriculum was mainly based on practice
than theory.
Limkokwing in
Swaziland had no staff at professor rank and no record of conducting scholarly
research.
Educational standards at Limkokwing are lower than those
at other universities, including the University of Swaziland. It does not
require students to have qualifications in the English language.
Despite these shortcomings, King Mswati told an audience at Limkokwing the university was providing the kind of degrees that empower Swazi youths and said he strongly believed the future of Swaziland was effectively being transformed by it.
Despite these shortcomings, King Mswati told an audience at Limkokwing the university was providing the kind of degrees that empower Swazi youths and said he strongly believed the future of Swaziland was effectively being transformed by it.
He did not give
details on exactly how this was being achieved.
Nor, did Limkokwing
explain what it meant when it spoke of the King’s ‘commitment to improving the
lives of the Swazi people’.
King Mswati is
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and rules over a population of about
1.3 million people and 70 percent of his subjects live in abject poverty,
earning less than US$2 per day. The kingdom has the highest rate of HIV
infection in the world.
King Mswati
allows no opposition to his rule and all political parties are banned from taking
part in elections. The Swazi parliament is widely considered by democrats to be
a sham that only exists to follow King Mswati’s wishes.
Limkokwing has
been controversial ever since it opened in Swaziland in May 2011. It struggled
for many years to be allowed to open until King Mswati personally gave his
blessing.
In June 2011, it emerged that the university’s founder
Tan Sri Dato Lim Kok Wing had
a meeting with King Mswati and ‘persuaded’ him that Swaziland needed a new
university – and Limkokwing should be it. He persuaded
the King to believe that low-level courses in such subjects as Graphic
Designing, TV & Film Production, Architectural Technology, Advertising,
Creative Multimedia, Information Technology, Event Management, Business
Information Technology, Journalism and Media, Public Relations and Business
Management, would help Swaziland which is mainly an agricultural society to
prosper.
Once the King
gave his support nobody in his kingdom stood in its way. Limkokwing started
in Swaziland illegally because an Act of Parliament is needed to set up a
university, but Limkokwing was allowed to start without parliament’s approval.
The cash-strapped government that was seeking ways to save money on higher education at the kingdom’s established University of Swaziland offered Limkokwing US$2 million a year it could not afford for scholarships for up to 800 students.
The cash-strapped government that was seeking ways to save money on higher education at the kingdom’s established University of Swaziland offered Limkokwing US$2 million a year it could not afford for scholarships for up to 800 students.
Soon after Limkokwing opened, students began protesting
that they were not getting their allowances and there were no text books and
too few laptops. There were at least 20 protests, class boycotts and closures
during the first year after it opened. Police used teargas and rubber bullets
against protesting students. One student was shot in the leg.
See also
NEW SWAZI UNIVERSITY SUBSTANDARD
KING FELL FOR BOGUS UNIVERSITY
LIMKOKWING UNIVERSITY IS ILLEGAL
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/05/limkokwing-university-is-illegal.html
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/05/limkokwing-university-is-illegal.html
SWAZILAND PM IS A BOGUS DOCTOR
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