TCU sheds light on current students verification exercise

DAILY NEWS Reporter

THE Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) has calmed 8,167 students in higher learning institutions whose credentials are up for approval, explaining that the scrutiny did not necessary mean that they lack qualifications.

“All the scholars who were listed are asked to remain calm and continue with studies, TCU will communicate directly with the institutions to complete the verification exercise,” the commission explained.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the commission elaborated that the listed scholars had not been proved to lack qualifications but there were shortcomings on the information they presented.

“It should be noted that it has not been confirmed whether the students lack qualification for higher education but rather there were discrepancies which should be addressed,” read part of the statement signed by the Executive Director of TCU.

The higher education watchdog had on February 22, this year, issued a list of the students and gave them until today to present their credentials for approval.

This came after a scrutiny by the regulator at 67 out of 84 higher institutions of learning which was conducted between August 2016 and February, this year. It covered a total of 131,994 undergraduate students in the academic year 2016/2017.

During the exercise, the supervisory body compared information presented to it and respective universities by the admitted students, read part of the statement.

After the scrutiny it was established that 123,827 students, about 93.8 per cent, met required criteria for admission into higher learning while 8,167 (representing 6.2 per cent) had some disparities on their credentials.

In its statement last week, the commission had warned that students failing to prove their credentials within the prescribed period will not be recognized by TCU, thus lacking the admission qualities.

TCU noted that the list of students with questionable basic admission qualifications has been submitted to the relevant authorities, requesting students whose names appear on the list to contact their colleges to prove their credentials by today.