In one of the most bizarre stories to come out of
Swaziland’s troubled Limkokwing University, the
Minister of Education and Training Wilson Ntshangase publicly claimed
that he cried in cabinet in order to get the prime minister to allow it to open
in the kingdom.
‘I cried, literally, because I was fighting, fighting,
fighting and working hard for the university to be established in the country.
On that day, the prime minister said to me, “Ntshangase, don’t cry, we are
going to help you,”’
he told the guests at a book launch at Limkokwing.
Limkokwing is a private university based in Malaysia that
has opened campuses in Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho on the African
continent. Controversy has dogged
Limkokwing wherever it goes, because of the often controversial way it sets up
in a country and the low standards of its courses and teaching staffs.
Ntshangase might delude himself that it was his tears
that won the day for Limkokwing in Swaziland, but in fact it was King Mswati
III, who made it happen. Plans to set up in Mbabane were going nowhere for
years until the king stepped in.
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 fooled
the king into believing 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 – a mainly agricultural society - to prosper.
These courses are ‘associate degrees’, a term invented to
disguise the fact that they are courses inferior to a bachelor degree, which are
better known in other educational institutions as ‘diplomas’.
Limkokwing cannot escape the controversy about the
quality of its courses: an organisation isn’t a ‘university’ just because it
says it is.
The king passed on his wishes to government that
Limkokwing should be supported and no matter how daft the proposition, it had
to find the money to make it work. Before we knew it the Swazi Government had
put up US$2 million a year it did not have for scholarships for up to 800
students.
We know it did not have the money because as soon as
Limkokwing opened in Mbabane in May 2011, 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.
Limkokwing is in Swaziland illegally. You need an Act of
Parliament to set up a university, but Limkokwing was allowed to start without
parliament’s approval and there is no intention of creating an Act for it. This
was
confirmed by Ntshangase.
Ackel Zwane, who
writes for the Swazi Observer pointed out in May 2011, ‘The University of
Swaziland [the kingdom’s only other university] is established by an Act of
Parliament, which solely governs that institution and therefore, the same Act
cannot be applied in the regulation of the new Limkokwing and others. There is
something stinking under the carpet.
‘All those appearing to be promoting higher education in
Swaziland have personal interests that cannot be disputed.’
Educational standards at Limkokwing are lower than those
at other universities, including the University of Swaziland. It is so
desperate to attract fee-paying students that it does not require them to have
qualifications in the English language.
Ntshangase
said there was ‘nothing suspicious’ about
Limkokwing wanting lower qualifications for entry. But, Limkokwing makes its
money from student fees: the more students it signs up, the more money it makes.
A proper university offers high quality courses to high
quality students using high quality staff.
Limkokwing falls down on all of these. The quality of
students it takes is poor. In Swaziland it takes students with three credits in
the International General Certificate of Secondary Education. This is lower
than the five credits needed for entry to the University of Swaziland (
UNISWA), the
kingdom’s only state-run university.
No student at a Limkokwing University should fail,
according to its owner Lim Kok Wing. He told a Malaysian
newspaper,
‘It is my belief that no student should fail. If there are failures, then it is
we who have failed them.’ Which means lecturers will pass even the dullest and
laziest students to avoid being criticised by their own bosses.
Then there is the quality of the staff. Limkokwing
advertises internationally for staff in its new campuses (including Swaziland).
It states that applicants with bachelor degrees will be considered for posts. A
proper university would expect staff to have Ph.D doctorate degrees.
In June 2012, after one year of operation Bandile Mkhonta,
Head of Human Resource for Limkokwing in Mbabane, told local media that of 53
professional staff at the university; only one had a Ph.D.
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.
For ‘non-conventional’ one should read ‘non-university’.
See also
KING FELL FOR BOGUS UNIVERSITY
MORE CONTROVERSY FOR LIMKOKWING
