Masengeli versus USIU: High Court declines to stop graduation

Jukwaa

📋 Breaking It Down

Mr Masengeli had moved to court seeking orders to stop the graduation while accusing the institution of delaying the processing of his PhD dissertation and jeopardising his chances of graduating later this month.

The High Court however said it would not be in public interest to stop the ceremony.

USIU-A told the court that Mr Masengeli has not met the academic requirements for the award of a PhD and therefore cannot be included in its September 26 graduation list.

📌 What You Need to Know

The university told the High Court that Mr Masengeli has yet to defend his dissertation before a panel of internal and external examiners, a mandatory requirement before a doctoral degree can be awarded.

Through lawyer Chege Njoroge, the institution opposed Mr Masengeli’s application seeking to stop the graduation ceremony, arguing that academic procedures set out under the university’s charter, regulations and guidelines issued by the Commission for University Education cannot be waived for any student.

“What Masengeli is inviting the court to do is disregard the procedures of running the programmes,” Mr Njoroge submitted.

USIU-A said the earliest date available for Mr Masengeli’s dissertation defence is October 6, 2026. Even if he successfully defends the thesis, the university said, he would still be required to satisfy other graduation requirements before being cleared for graduation.

The institution said that after a successful defence, he would need to demonstrate that he had published two journal articles arising from his research and obtain the necessary confirmations before the university Senate could approve his graduation.

According to the university, Mr Masengeli was informed of the outstanding requirements on September 4 by his supervisor, Dr Francis Kayudi.

📰 Source: Nation Africa

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