A US-based university lecturer has urged Kenyan universities to invent new ways of assessing students performances to curb cheating.
Prof Gilbert Karuga of Kansas University on Friday said new technologies have made it easy for students and everybody else to exchange information and even cheat in their exams, hence resulting in half-baked dons.
Karuga said cheating in university exams has reached worrying levels globally. Drastic measures must be taken to safeguard the quality of students produced from the institutions of higher learning, he said.
Karuga spoke to lecturers and students in Embu town, focussing on how institutions can handle the changing learning environment brought about by new technologies.
He urged universities to move away from the traditional methods of assessing their students and rely more on continuous assessments to gauge their students, rather than wait for tests that might be compromised.
In other parts of the world, the testing environment has changed and there is an emphasis on the international standardised testing programmes, he said.
The professor said many institutions require graduates to take undergo a test to check their knowledge and skills.
Karuga was referring to recent reports in the media that Kenya has become a hotbed in university exam cheating.
The media reports said thousands of unemployed graduates write essays and projects for other students to earn a living. The flourishing industry is said to be assisting thousands of students to deceive their way to PhDs and Master degrees.
For about Sh30,000, for instance, a master's programme student can get a research project prepared in a fortnight.
Meanwhile, Kiragu said the plan by the government to merge universities might bring positive and negative results depending on the manner it will be carried out.
He urged the government to ensure universities specialise.
