Law students stand to gain after MKU accreditation

Mount Kenya University (MKU) has received full accreditation from the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to offer law programmes.

The university, which has joined 11 others with similar credentials in the country, has now set its sights on launching a master's in law programme.

MKU received the accreditation on July 30. Most local universities still operate using provisional accreditation.

At an event held early August to celebrate the achievement, MKU Parklands Law Campus director Nelly Wamaitha said the full accreditation gave the university a strong platform to start offering the master's programme.

Ms Wamaitha said the road to accreditation has been challenging, but added that the council has been supportive and offered guidance along the way.

“We appreciate CLE because of their positive criticism and guidance,” she said.

“We also appreciate the support of staff, faculty, management and the board of directors. The board went an extra mile to equip the library and furnish the moot court.”

STUDENTS' JOURNEY

The Mount Kenya University School of Law started in the Nakuru campus, but due to the inadequacies in physical infrastructure, the students were transferred to the main campus in Thika.

The first batch of Bachelor of Law students were admitted to the programme in 2009. They were about 30 and commenced classes at Uniafric Building on Koinange Street in Nairobi.

Later, the school was moved to MKU Towers Building on Moi Avenue, Nairobi.

In January 2015, the School of Law was transferred to the Parklands campus. This was after the university bought the building from another institution that had ceased operations.

The current campus hosts a student population of approximately 1,000.

The campus has facilities that support modern legal education and learning, including an up-to-date moot court.

QUALITY LEARNING

On July 14, 2017, the law school launched the Centre for International and Development Law (CIDLaw).

Mr David Ngira, a lecturer and quality assurance coordinator at CIDLaw, said: “The objective of the centre is to define the school’s niche area, being international and development law.

"The centre is designed to spearhead research, partnership and training in line with the emerging trends in legal practice. The centre also runs a journal, which acts as a platform for research publication and dissemination.”

MKU's journey to full accreditation to offer law studies began in 2011 when it was granted provisional accreditation.

Mr Collins Odongo, who was there during the school’s early days, noted that the provisional accreditation triggered massive human resource, academic, curriculum and infrastructural development towards full accreditation.

NICHE AREA

MKU Vice-Chancellor Stanley Waudo constituted a committee to look into all the legal, academic and infrastructural needs towards accreditation.

The committee worked closely with the school, legal education stakeholders and CLE on the accreditation process.

CLE then carried out several audits and inspections. The feedback by the council went a long way in helping the school to strengthen its programme.

Last year, the school identified the areas of international and development law as the niche to focus on.

Accordingly, all programmes in the school are tailored to this direction.