Buchanan – The Chief Executive officer of Vision College in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County has responded to inquiry by FrontPage Africa, confirming that his institution is operating without an accreditation from the National Commission of Higher Education.
Dr. Emmanuel Daykeay, who is currently in the United States, claims that the college does not need to be accredited before operating as a tertiary learning institution in Liberia.
Vision College was established in Grand Bassa County in 2017. The college currently has an enrollment of over 100 students. It offers Bachelor degrees in Health Sciences, Agriculture, Information Technology, Criminal justice and several other courses.
FrontPage Africa further uncovered that the College is housed in two rented buildings – one as the administrative building and the other as its Health sciences department. One of the buildings is located on Preston Street in Central Buchanan City while the other located in the Saypu Hill Community, almost a mile away from the other.
Daykeay told FrontPage Africa in a telephone interview that the College has a valid Business Registration and an Article of Incorporation – documents he claims give then the legal authorization to operate as a business.
“Accreditation only adds value to the college but it’s not a criterion for College establishment”.
“There are some leaders in Grand Bassa County who don’t want our children to get quality education and so they keep saying we need accreditation before operating but it won’t work”.
The Vision College boss mentioned that he is in the process of getting accreditation, alleging that the process of acquiring the accreditation is being suppressed by some leaders of the county.
“Look, ever since I should have gotten my accreditation but some of our leaders in this county don’t want to see Vision College prospering thinking that they’re preventing us from making impact on our county,” he alleged.
“The plans of those leaders have failed because Vision College is up and running”.
FrontPage Africa tried contacting the Commission on Higher Education to ascertain whether or not a higher learning institution is allowed to operate without accreditation, but officials of the commission were not available via phone up to press time.
However, the National commission on Higher Education has struggled to deal with unaccredited higher learning institution. There have been series of media reports about bogus tertiary institutions operating in the country without approval from the NCHE.
In a September 18, 2019 press release, the commission said it had placed a moratorium on accreditation for newly applying institutions and the adoption of a new policy for “Licensing” before accreditation. It is unclear whether the moratorium has been lifted.
It warned that “anyone wishing to enroll or has enrolled” within bogus institutions that are not “accredited” or “licensed” by the NCHE was doing at their own risk.
NCHE is the arm of the Liberian Government charged with the regulation and supervision of higher education activities in the country. It is an established autonomous agency of the Government by an Act of the National Legislature in 1989.
Amongst other things, the commission formulates broad policy guidelines for the establishment of institutions of higher education in Liberia, and to coordinate and serve as the principal liaison between institutions of learning commencing from the Post-Secondary level.