SHOCKER: CERTIFICATES FROM 5 COLLEGES NOT RECOGNISED

MBABANE – Qualifications shocker!

Students who have graduated and qualified under the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) programmes might face challenges in securing employment, as their certificates are no longer recognised in the country and abroad. These are students who were studying in private institutions and among these is Amadi College in Eswatini. In total, five private institutions of higher learning have been affected by this. The other affected colleges are Global College, Workers College and CIT College in Eswatini, as well as Bradford University College.

While the actual figures of the graduates cannot be confirmed, it is estimated that about 100 students, some of whom were enrolled for short courses, may have graduated from each of the five colleges. The none recognition follows the removal of ICM from the OFQUAL database, following its none regulation in its home country, the United Kingdom (UK). Of note, is that some institutions in the country are still offering programmes under ICM, which the Eswatini Qualifications Authority (EQA) is totally against and wants this stopped. Affected, are students who were studying Accounting,  Financing, Journalism, Project Management, Human Resource and Hospitality, among others. EQA’s Mboni Dlamini said they will not recognise a qualifications which were not regulated, as it were wrong to do so.

Regulated

Dlamini said ICM was no longer regulated in the UK, which was the home country of the examination body. He said all foreign qualifications were regulated in their country of origin. Dlamini explained that all qualifications needed to be regulated and that if they were no longer recognised in their home country, then those who used it should apply for local accreditation to offer local qualifications.He said ICM was international and was being regulated by OFQUAL in the UK, hence now it had been removed from their database, because it was no longer regulated. “We then suggest that, instead of the ICM being an international qualification, it should be made a local qualification by those interested,” he said.

After redesigning the qualification, Dlamini said they should then seek accreditation of the qualification. However, he said there was a process to follow in order to accredit the programme. Dlamini made an example with the programmes offered by the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), which he said were local programmes and were accredited by the Eswatini Higher Education Council (ESHEC). He said now that ICM did not have a regulating body in its home country, those responsible should go through the process of redesigning the programmes.

Asked if all programmes qualified under ICM would not be recognised, Dlamini said those that were attained before being removed from the database would be recognised, but those who obtained the qualifications after it had been stopped, are in trouble. He said there was no way that Eswatini could recognise a qualifcation, which was not recognised in its home country.

Banned

Dlamini said EQA was affiliated in the African network known as AQVN, where the issue of ICM was discussed and all countries indicated that it was banned, because it did not have a regulator. He said they engaged the local ICM officials, who acknowledged that there was a challenge and they were advised to localise the qualifications. He said there were quite a number of programmes that were offered under the ICM. Dlamini said they promised that they would address the challenge.

Reached for comment, local ICM Representative Gcina Dladla said ICM was an authentic qualification body.  Dladla said if it was not recognised locally, other jurisdictions recognised it. He said Lesotho and Botswana were also offering the qualifications. He accused the EQA of punishing people who received qualifications under ICM before they (EQA), even came into being. Dladla said EQA and ESHEC were new establishments, hence they needed to be more engaging, rather than just appearing in the database of the quality assurance agency. He said these should have been more engaging, rather than banning the qualification completely. “The institution found us operating alongside the colleges in the country,” Dladla explained.

Programmes

The ICM representative said they were actually recognised by OFQUAL, adding that there were individual programmes they were running that were not under ICM, and as such, were not registered as qualifications but were offered in the UK.He said ICM offered more than a thousand different   qualifications in the country alone. Dladla said EQA was forcing them to register programmes that were not registered in the UK, mainly because they had programmes for the overseas market and not for the UK market. “ICM develops programmes for the overseas market and not the UK market,” he said. He said EQA wants OFQUAL to recognise the programmes even though they were meant for the overseas market and not the UK.

Dladla said ICM had explained this to EQA, that they specifically designed programmes for the overseas market and some on request by the market.
He said EQA should subject programmes offered under ICM to their own criteria, without wanting UK to forcefully recognise them, yet it was not offered in their market. Dladla mentioned that, to address the concerns by EQA, the ICM was discussing with OFQUAL to see how it could come on board. He said the UK Government wrote to EQA, explaining why the programmes were not being registered in their country.

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