Rwandan graduates from Atlantic International University (AIU) have threatened to sue Higher Education Council (HEC) as they attempt to overturn the cancellation of their academic equivalences. On January 10, HEC withdrew all academic equivalences it had issued to graduates from AIU, saying the American-based institution was not accredited by any agency. Lecturers in local universities and employees in public and private institutions who were educated at this university contested the decision. “We are first engaging HEC to meet AIU graduates for peaceful handling of the injustice against AIU students and graduates,” said one of the graduates’ representatives who preferred anonymity. He said that now the court is likely to be their last resort, disclosing they were also intending to petition the Office of Ombudsman. An estimated 100 Rwandans are believed to have graduated from AIU with different academic qualifications ranging from bachelors degrees to PhDs. “All these had been given equivalences. It is not clear why until now HEC doesn’t want to meet the graduates to discuss the issue,” he noted. He added that those who are still at school are likely to lose their money and time. “We filed complaints with HEC but never got feedback,” the source said HEC had earlier explained that even the claimed accrediting agency for AIU which is Accreditation Service for International colleges (ASIC) is not a government agency in charge of accreditation of institutions of higher learning in the United Kingdom (UK) or any other country. According to the sources, AIU has set up a technical team to follow up on the matter. The New Times has learnt from the graduates that AIU informed its alumnae that it the most recent official inquiry from HEC that was sent to AIU was in 2018 to which they promptly responded. “To our knowledge, that communication was sufficient as HEC never contacted us again and we learned that numerous AIU students were subsequently granted recognition for their studies,” one of the leaders said in reference to a reported communique from the university. He added; “Since then, we haven’t received any other communication from them. If HEC inquires from us again, then we will immediately respond. It is very important to understand how US universities operate in our country which is different from Rwanda.” Officials from HEC had also not responded to this paper while the Ministry of Education insisted HEC should be the one to respond to the graduates’ complaints.
