BIU students obtain injunction against NCHE action
Blantyre International University (BIU) Students Union has obtained an injunction against the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and BIU, restraining the two institutions from interfering with programmes the university is offering until the courts make a further order.
Lawyer representing the students Yasin Domasi has since confirmed the news.
According to the injunction dated December 28 2016 obtained from the High Court in Blantyre which The Nation has seen, BIU has been ordered to continue teaching all the suspended programmes.
The High Court has also ordered NCHE not to interfere with the process by deregistering, publishing or announcing that the programmes are not accredited until a further notice of the court.
According to the injunction, the three parties are to appear in court for hearing on January 9 2017 while the two defendants will be served with the order by January 3 2017.
BIU Students Union president Ousman Kennedy yesterday told The Nation in an interview that students at the university have been negatively affected following NCHE’s decision.
“Some of the students have been denied access to loans because they are learning at an unaccredited institution,” he said.
Through a press release dated November 17 2016, NCHE announced its decision not to accredit BIU, citing an unsatisfactory teaching and learning environment and that the institution’s programmes required reviewing to ensure comparability with similar programmes nationally and internationally.
NCHE public relations officer Priscilla Zikapanda could not be reached on her mobile phone as the story went to print. n
