THE suspension of some programmes offered by the Zimbabwe Open University by the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education last year has caused a lot of suffering among thousands of current and former students. Even the university  authorities do not have a clear way forward while the institution awaits a decision from the council.

The council is mandated with evaluating and assessing higher education programmes to ensure they meet the country's training needs while maintaining world class standards.

ZOU director of marketing and communications Mr Nhamo Marandu yesterday said the college felt the suspension of the programmes was unprocedural and irregular.

He said apart from an evaluation report on BSc Counselling that was compiled by as yet unknown persons, the other programmes had been suspended on unclear basis.

According to the Zimche Act, Section 18, sub-section 4, the council must publish the results of the accreditation process but ZOU has not seen such publication.

"We are not contesting the authority of Zimche as a regulatory body. They indeed have an important national mandate of quality assuring our higher education. What we are not quite happy with is how the same mandate is being executed.

"For instance we should be given the identity and qualifications of those who Zimche assigns to evaluate our programmes.

"Not only is this fair and transparent, it also will allay our fears that the evaluators might not have any experience in open and distance learning or they may actually be on the payrolls of our competitors.

"We only got instructions to stop offering the programmes and in some cases transfer students to other colleges offering the same courses.

"We believe this is beyond the Zimche mandate, which under Section 18, sub Section 5, of the Zimche Act 25.17 is to recommend to the responsible minister.

"The decision has thrown thousands of students' future in jeopardy.

"The decision has broader consequences as former students now have to justify their qualification at work while those studying do not know if they will ever complete the course or not," he said.

Zimche in November last year issued a statement suspending five programmes offered by the institution.

These include MSc in Counselling, BSc in Counselling, Post-Graduate Diploma in Education, Diploma in Education (Primary) and Diploma in Early Childhood Development.

The suspension has affected even students who graduated earlier.

The BSC Counselling programme has seen 3 214 students graduate while another 1 090 are in various stages of studying. One hundred and sixty-eight students graduated from ZOU with MSC Counselling degrees with 230 more in-stream while 35 graduated from the ECD programme.

He said the university was not offering the Graduate Diploma in Education Certificate as indicated by the council while the diploma in early child development was offered by an affiliate college - Elephant College, a private institution.

Mr Marandu said ZOU believed the Diploma in Education (Primary) was designed to cater for practising untrained teachers to help alleviate the current shortage of teachers in the country.

"These were programmes of national importance but were condemned without proper consideration.

"The suspension has put a dent on the credibility of all other programmes offered by the institution and the country's education system.

"We feel the college should be allowed to continue teaching while improvements are being made as the decision was inconsiderate to the students' plight.

"We believe issues of such national importance require wide consultation and adherence to existing laws."

ZOU was established in 1993 and has offered tuition to thousands of Zimbabweans who hold important portfolios in the country.