Some 200 disgruntled Botho College students who are pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Computing from a United Kingdom based Teesside University want to be transferred to other institutions as they have lost faith and trust with the credentials of the program that they are offered.
The other option given to the college by the students is that they should reprogram the entire program immediately.
“We need the reprogramming of the course, failure to do that….. they should let us go,” said the Botho-Teesside University Class Representative, David Throngo.
They say in their investigations they have noticed that their current programs are nothing like what is done at Teesside University in the UK. They said, for example, at Teesside University students sit for examinations while at Botho College, there are no examinations.
Materials used and online program soft-wares were also said to be irrelevant and not similar to the ones in the UK. The students also demand that their programs be restarted or reprogrammed. They say the best option is for them to start the modules with proper documentations.
The students also demanded that they be shown the qualifications of their lecturers as they are incompetent. The students do not trust the Teesside University program and demand it should be reprogrammed immediately.
The disgruntled students wrote several letters to the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, pleading for the ministry’s intervention on their issue. The Telegraph has copies of two letters from the students to the Ministry.
“We were forced with intimidations to do Teesside University Program as the intake of February 2013. We strongly believe the management misinformed us that the Open University program is no longer offered and that if you are to choose the program you choose it at your own risk,” said one of the letters from the students to the Ministry.
As the response from the ministry was still pending, the frustrated and disgruntled students arranged a ‘peaceful demonstration’ to address their issue last.┬á But the College management allegedly interrupted the meeting. Throngo said this resulted in some students being suspended as they were said to be disturbing peace.
The Telegraph knows that negotiations with the management and students are still in progress. The students are still waiting for their long-awaited response from the Ministry and the management, and say they cannot wait to see themselves parting ways with the college as they think the college is offering them a program that is not credible.
The Director of Administration and Stakeholder Relations, Ravi Srinivasan, assured that all things have gone back to normal.
“All is solved and students are back in class. We warned the students and there are few suspensions but things are now normal,” said Srinivasan when interviewed by this publication during the launch of Botho University, which was formerly Botho College.
However this was contrary to what Throngo told this publication when interviewed by this publication hours before the Botho University launch. He said they are still waiting for a response from the Ministry and from there they will take decision whether to stay or go.
