MBABANE – Over 20  students at the  Christian Medical University are stranded following the two-month closure of the institution in March this year.

Despite that the university was re-opened in July, the students have not been accepted back to continue with their studies.
These are students pursuing Master’s Degree in Psychology and those doing Family Medicine. The closure, which was at the directive of the then Education Minister Wilson Ntsha-ngase came about after the institution’s accreditation was being looked into.

It has since been accredited and has re-opened, which also saw the admission of new students into other courses.
Some of the students who confided to the Swazi News said they have been turned from pillar to post as no one seemed to have the right explanation of their situation.

“We have been to the administration and we were told that they knew nothing about our case. We also failed to get response from the Senate and that was when we started wondering as to what was happening because we are long overdue to start on our second year,” said a psychology student.

The students said they have also met with one of the university founders identified as Kim and he did not bring a solution to their plight.
The students enrolled for the two-year course at the institution in 2012 where they did their first year, sat for two examinations and passed.

Some of them had paid tuition fee amounting to over E20 000 in full while others had paid deposits and several instalments.
In 2013 they proceeded to second year even after the ministry called for closure in March.

suspended

However, sometime in May their lessons were suspended and they were told to stop coming for lectures until further notice.
What they want now is to go to the next level of their courses.
Public Relations Officer for the Christian Medical University Philemon Mgabhi confirmed that there were challenges regarding the over 20 students.

He said these were students on part-time courses. “We are actively working on the matter but unfortunately I cannot even give a timeframe for this,” he said. Mgabhi said he knew all the students and the situation they were faced with and said the administration had a meeting on the issue about two weeks ago. “Senate is also working on the matter and we hope it will not take long,” said the PRO.
He added that there was communication between the university and the students, declining allegations that the students were being turned from pillar to post.

Mgabhi mentioned that the students were still part of the university.
The university was opened in 2011, only to closed a few months later when the ministry of education and training wanted it to be fully- accredited before operations began.
It was reopened two months later and is now in full operation.