Dear Chief Editor,
REF: CBU EMPLOYING UNDERQUALIFIED LECTURERS
Reference is made to your posting of a letter on your site on 17th May, 2012 written by an alleged ‘concerned student’ who claimed that
the Copperbelt University was employing under qualified lecturers at the Directorate of Distance Education and Open Learning.
The Copperbelt University Management wishes to state that these allegations are unfounded and don’t represent the true picture of staffing levels and qualifications of lecturers at the Directorate. Like in every other faculty of the University which includes the Directorate, the Institution employs lecturers with a minimum of a Masters degree to teach undergraduate students.
In this regard, you may wish to note that currently lecturers teaching in the Directorate, who are in excess of thirty, hold qualifications of a minimum of Masters Degree. The same qualifications hold true for all other lecturers delivering undergraduate lectures under part-time and full-time modes.
As such, it is unfortunate that the writer chose to misrepresent facts by making such unfounded allegations for reasons best known to him or herself.
However, the Copperbelt University Management wishes to assure the public in general and prospective students in particular that the Institution remains committed to providing quality education and produce well trained graduates that will contribute to the national development of our country.The University remains open for any further clarifications and enquiries on its operations and possible enrolment in various programmes.
Grace Sampa Mikunga
Public Relations Officer
Copperbelt University
Ba Grace the pipo circulating such could be right if you look at the school of business, Musokwa does not really inspire coz he just book lifts notes and exam questions.
Zazi, your are wrong please leave the Man alone.If anything Mr Musokwa is of the best lecturers in accounts as he would redo the topic just to make sure students understands.Talk of other lecturers who dont care whether students understands or not.To them students failing is part of the university standard.If you have been at CBU am sure you know them.
Leave the man alone. If he gave you a D+ this is not the fora for hitting him back, stupid, *****
Iwe na Mwale Takwata Masters…. hehehehe yes nankwe mu school of Business
He lectures. He is not supposed to spoon feed you. If you don’t understand any topic, try youtube. They have free lectures on any topic. Grow up.
Please stop telling lies. I am a CBU graduate and I know exactly the situation prevailing in the institute unless thehttp://www.cbu.ac.zm/schools/engineering/academic-staff/267-staff-electrical-engineering situation has dramatically changed which I doubt. Have a look at this link : Does Bukuku or Serenje have Masters? The same applies for other departments. Actually it  is not inspiring to have lecturers with minimum Master’s qualifications. No wonder they deliberately fail students. Let lecturers strive for excellence and reach the highest possible qualification of professor. Our universities need to start having a lot of  professors spearheading research projects!
@muzungu, I have leant how to use evidence in both research and law and so I try to verify information that is presented to support an argument and I did exactly that with the link you have given us. Apparently it seems its outdated. It still has Dr. Chama as Dean of the school of business when its now Dr Kapena who is dean. What is to say the people with Masters have not acquired them by now. The other danger with generalisation is that you risk giving a wrong picture and also hurting those of our lecturers that have decided to brave the conditions of service. the same site shows that school of business doesn’t have any lecturer without a masters.
work hard also and become one of the highest qualified lecturer instead of just complaining about issues of this nature…..joba sana boyi…
Zazi,
so is the contention about academic qualifications or is it about charisma and inspiration?
These allegations are true.Ninshi mulekana ? Do you want us to start mentioning names ? Even at Unza it is the same old story in some departments.
rubbish university,its a high school.compare with the unversity of Namibia.
Drop outs from CBU go to UNZA and Drop outs from UNZA go to Namibia and Botswana if they can afford and graduate. There is no competition at Namibia University and University of Bots.
Pepe mulabeja basa. Am a student of CBU. was supposed to have graduated last year but because of this one Mwale who claims to have a masters and his hatred for me he failed me. that guy.
Please scruitinise their papers. i beggor
ulicikopofye iwe
Soliciting for higher grades pa internet? Have some self-respect. Kapaunde. Vamahala vinata!
Hey, when you fail it does not mean your lecturers are not qualified. No lecturer at CBU has not a minimum of Masters. If you talk about mode of delivery, there are obviously individual differences just as you bore us some of you when making those presentations of your research proposal with your luck of skill in public speaking. Chill and work hard otherwise mwawa baice. Nokumojoka munasheko.
Hehehe…
This is true for UNZA which has some schools or departments with first degree holders teaching and setting exams for students. This has even affected the quality of students graduating. UNZA should stop this before we have students in their last year teaching the first years.
I am the one who recruits lecturers at UNZA. You will not find a single one of them without masters. If first degree, that chap will be a tutor working under a lecturer. The same can not be said of CBU where you have a biology dept in a university with 3 lecturers (like a high school!), worse still Mulungushi/\.
if there are lecturers with first degrees, can we hear their names please and what they teach
Bad carpenters, always shifting blame on the tools! give the dudes a break by putting in a good shift as a student! #lazymentality
Just work hard mature don’t blame the tools! Degree yalikosa kuzirowa fye! After all mature tapona aongama fye!
Rabbish, even a person holding certificate can teach imwe. You don’t to be a professor to teach communication skills.Â
Nakana Unganipunzise matuvi
I think all government institutions need to have an annual qualifications check up, Zambian education has really lost its value especially in IT archtecture and engineering.
Degree holders were cropped by AIDS hence half baked lecturer found jobs. Mwanawasa openly talked of those half baked lecturers.
@Olafemi!
There is no competition at University of Namibia. That is why you find chaps who drop out or fail to be admitted at CBU and/ or UNZA go to complete studies there bcoz their and/ or parents or guadians can pay.
Nambia is a country of just slightly over 2million less than the population of just Lusaka. learn to compare apple to apple.
@Loveness re you talking about Mwale the Chongololo? He almost made me to repeat his Mis course, that guy he is childish. Anyway you will leave bafikamba.
i think what some people are talking about is maybe tutors and demonstrators,those with first degrees help the lecturers in conducting tutorials and laboratory demonstrations at first and second year levels and not necessarily giving lectures,i think someone missed the point somewhere.i also did this part time job at unza when i graduated before i left the country.its not giving lectures but tutorials and lab sessions for freshmen and second years.maybe the situation is different for cbu but i don’t think so.
The power of hiding behind the keyboard. No one knows who is writing what and yet some people are still scared to mention names. If you are lying save the space. Go ahead and mention them cos I know my uncle has a PHD. Shimpundu wilaikata kuchani ngauli mwaume. Stand and redeem the future.
Did your teachers at primary schools have masters degrees? C ome on those are just Certificates obtained through long hours of studying.Do you really a Masters to lecture comm skills?
you chaps are just dull.some of us used to be pa commons every time but passed tougher courses with bene Tailoka ,mention them those days 2002,03 best brains cbu has.or you want to go to Copperstone my friend …go .its for your own good.after all you are just interested in passing not learning.
The type and mode of teaching at our 2 universities (CBU &UNZA) is very outdated especially in IT and engineering courses. The 2 universities are very rigid and traditional. When you look at other universities, every course has a practical courses work equivalent to a project. Most of the inventions world over come as a result of student courseworks. Ask chaps from UNZA or CBU to develop a simple swapping algorithm and you will see how they fumble. e.g at CBU, they still teach engineering maths for computer science students. This is completely useless and time consuming. A branch of maths called discrete mathematics is more relevant as taught in most modern universities.
Iwe Don, there is no laboratory practical in Distance learning. The writer was right check them again.
I remember helping some students on their computer science final year projects. It wasn’t even fit to qualify as a computer science project. An average student could have finished their projects in a day or two. Actually, excel could even have done the job. Their projects could have been finished off by even accountants or engineers with advanced knowledge in excel. I was very very disappointed. No wonder most of the graduates end up working as help desk officers in banks NGOs and companies. Very few are in serious staff like developing and building software, sound muilti user databases and design of high level network infrastructure.
Ba former cbu. Mukutipo bwanji pa nkhani iyi. Could it be true?
The greatest problem undermining the quality of education at CBU is corruption and nepotism. Management and the school heads have no regard for academic excellence any more. Look at the crop of lecturers, they are all relatives of some lecturers within the university. CBU is loosing its quality because it is raveged with corruption, the system is rotten to the core. If lecturers are not recruited on academic and intellectual adeptiness but on tribal and other affilitions you expect such madiocrity at an institution you call a public university. No wonder such universities cannot even feature on top 500 African Universities. In a related problem, the curricular being used is so outdated that it has lost touch with the current job market. CBU needs cleasing!
Please note, the third line which reads “they are all relatives” is an error! It was supposed to read some are relative….apology!
The tendency of blaming lecturers for your shoddy performance in exams is disappointing.
Apart from ill health during your studies most of the failing is caused by mainly the student.
I once was excluded from school at University and blame no one but myself for the failure.
mwasosa bane, you know what after l was excluded at CBU some years back. I didn’t want to waste my time waiting for a second chance, l went on and did GSM/BSS at Zamtel college in Ndola. Here lam working with MTN, lam happy l was prepared so well and certified, its all good seeing graduates from CBU failing to perform
So even Dr Lubinda Habaasoka is under qualified i Business? Mention names pls!
Zed Poor People,
I find your ignorance about UNZA lecturers absolutely shocking if not purely malicious. All your allegations about UNZA employing first degree holders are absolute nonsense. All you need to do is go to the UNZA website (www.unza.zm). You will find a full list of all members of academic staff in all the schools, complete with their qualifications. You will not find a single lecturer there who has a first degree only. Lecturers at UNZA are employed only if they have a very good first degree and master’s degree as a minimum qualification. I suspect out of sheer ignorance you are confusing tutors and Staff Development Fellows with lecturers.
You are just jealous. I am a lecturer at CBU and I finished form 5 at Kamuchanga Secondary in Mufulira, so what the problem?
I really hope you are not a lecturer as you claim otherwise, if true, then the students complaining are right about under qualified stuff.
And from which university did you get your advanced degree, Kamuchanga Secondary School?
It is very sad that CBU has almost rubbished the concerned student. It is a fact that most people working these days, they do it for money. There is no passion in working. For teachers, it is even worse. They (teachers) are taught by people who have no passion for the profession. The teachers are just half baked. I have seen this in one subject.
Clearly, Zambian education has taken a dive in many areas. All government institutions are worse than the way they were in the 1970s, thus students now learn under facilities that are not conducive to learning.
CBU should just own up, so should UNZA.
Let’s not make sweeping statements belittling the chaps at UNZA and CBU. These Dons have been to the same universities in the world that we’ve been, but are now working back home under harsh conditions. Undergrads feel all knowing and come up with all sorts of excuses when they fail. Some chap on this blog has mentioned a Mwale. The Mwale I know currently at CBU has two Masters from a top UK university and has just started his PhD programme. Â
The problem is not with the lecturers but the vision that the institution has CBU does not give scholarships for PHDs those who have had to get the scholarships on the own and PHD scholarships are very competitive.They wait until someone is very old to send them for a PHD.I am currently doing my masters if i don’t do my PHD before am 35 i will gladly be teaching with a masters.Some of these things have to be addressed.
I know Bukuku does not have a Masters degree but he is a very good lecturer, better than than the people that have Masters Degree.
I totally agree with you, he is a gentleman who knows what he s doing, he taught me signal processing and digital electronics I & II.
Hats off to UNAM! I think they are graded higher than Zambian Universities. The lowest mark you can get at UNAM is 50%, then only can you write your end of semester exams. To write a supplimentary exam you need to get betwwem 40% and 49%. So what are you saying? I’m aware also that CBU lecturers are too mean with marks and keep on failing students. Is it because they don’t to be replaced by the very able young people? Follow the advice of having Masters degree as a minimum qualification. You are diluting our education system.
Mature nafikosafye the policy at CBU is that when they get an SDF within 6 months they send them for their masters degree i had never seen a lacturer who was less qualified the minimum has always been a masters shame on this uninformed student dont use lacturers as a reason for your failure just work hard.
It’s interesting to hear people debate on issues when you are an insider and you have all the information. I take it that most of the people posting some of these silly comments are bored people with nothing much to do. Go to any top university in the UK and USA, you’ll still find people without a master’s degree involved in academic delivery. The truth is that we dont have adequate numbers of PhD holders and professors, and we dont research. That’s why we cant feature even in the top 500 African universities because we’ve concentrated on teaching at the expense of researching
bushe Danford Banda ku Civil Eng pa CBU talafwa…….fake lecturer
Is Musongole still at UNZA(Maths)?mambala ali guinshishe ka M110 ninshi shilasalapuka.
CBU standards have realy gone down ahh.
Employing lectures on nepotism grounds is not true, only pipo with distinctions and merits are considered as SDFs. I clocked 5yrs at Zit so don’t lie, the issue of employing first degree holders as lecturers is very untrue. guys lets be object here. Thoz who are sapoting Namibian Univrsity are…. Nway improved learning standards should be improved for sure… Even the library itself needs to be upgraded with latest books. I rarely used that Lib.
EX ZIT,
get the facts right. SDFs are no longer recruited based on merits, but on affiliations and nepotism within the University. We all no that lecturers and SDFs say starting 2008 are recruited on tribal lines!
No 40. you are lying. I will give you a typical example of nepotism. In the class of 2006 B Eng Chemical Engg, one student got a merit and  few got credits and the rest silents. That guy waited for almost two years and was not employed as a SDF despite the department having a critical shortage  of teaching staff. Instead the then HOD Dr. Maseka recommended his fellow tribes mate a mature man who graduated with a silent as a lecturer ( J. Mundike ). This man was previously working as a lab technician.Â
Iwe Mundike has a Masters!! If the chap got a merit why did it take him 2 years ro get a job? ifwe na ma credit we are happy by God’s grace..God gave us what to do immediately. Have faith in God and not in your merit or distinction mbuzi iwe
The criteria for picking a SDF is merit and above but in special circumstances if there is no merit then a credit will do like the way Mrs Sonile in Electrical department was picked..Mundike was picked when he got a silent and the other guy had to wait for two years on promises that he would be picked when clearly he was the better candidate. You are so dull and didn’t even read my comment. I am not saying Mundike does not have a master’s what I am saying is that Mundike was favored over the other more suitably qualified guy because of nepotism. Learn to analyse statements before opening your dirty mouth!
if u blame the libraries, go online, u can get nearly any book u want. I see that many people fail to distinguish btn SDFs or TUTORS and Lects.
@ # 43 Sak it is not that people fail to distinguish SDFs from lecturers but it is that @ CBU SDFs are used as lecturers due to shortage of staff. SDF s are given courses to teach and even set and mark the exams which should not be the case. A very common case @ CBU. A SDF firstly should be under the guidance of a professor and should be limited to taking tutorials and conducting experimental work.
@ # 42 Jo Jonto, The criteria for picking a SDF is merit and above but in special circumstances if there is no merit then a credit will do like the way Mrs Sonile in Electrical department was picked..Mundike was picked when he got a silent and the other guy had to wait for two years on promises that he would be picked when clearly he was the better candidate. You are so dull and didn’t even read my comment. I am not saying Mundike does not have a master’s what I am saying is that Mundike was favored over the other more suitably qualified guy because of nepotism. Learn to analyse statements before opening your dirty mouth!
In the first place most of you bloggers/students/x-students are emotional. No lecturer will fail you deliberately. If you reflect, you will agree that mostly its you to blame; think about your character, bad handwriting and your altitude/focus.On the other hand, good lecturers are born out of experience and research, i.e why I agree Mr. B is very good becoz of the former. I think management, HODs, Deans, DVC & VC should encourage research and glooming of young academicians and inexperience ones. This used to happen in the 80s but no more, just like most of the things in Zambia. There should money for research, travel to conferences, hold of serminars, short courses. Management should not block those who want to do this by own iniative. Responce like you can go this time but next time give
Cont’d… chance to others is discouraging, why should I give chance to those that are not interested? In the same way, why give contracts to those over 55 when in the past have not added value in terms of research, glooming (i.e there is nothing tangible in the dept that can be attributed them). So what can you say? could be nepotism at place. I think that academicians who have shown no value to CBU shouldn’t be given contracts after 55yrs to create employement for fresh graduates. I should declare interest and say that I am lecturer and have just attained my PhD qualification.
# 45-46, You Sir, have spoken the truth.
I am a found CBU graduate and a proud one at that. While I appreciate that they may be few who may not have masters & still teach graduate programme, that doesn’t make the institution useless. The issue is the same as in other sectors. if you check you so called University of Namibia, their lecturers may most likely be Zambians or those that pretended to be Zambian and got GRZ scholarships at our expense. If you look at health, education and other sectors you will see a lot of qualified Zambians who have left Zambia because of poor conditions.
Sometimes experience matters more than the masters which one can acquire during the first few years. when I was doing my masters I have was taught experienced masters holders and this is not in Zambia but at one of the best uni’s in the world
Can I get a job at CBU?
I LOVED AND ADMIRED MY STUDENTS WHILE TEACHING AT CBU.THEY ARE GREAT AND DOING GREAT JOBS.MISSING THEM.
 BANDYOPADHYAY
CUB is the best University in Zambia with a passing mark of 50%. Hats off to senior lectures like Prof. Tailoka and Prof. Lungu who introductory the same mark. Students are just lazy to study and at the end of the day they want to pass without
studying. Some students are womanisers and prostitutes who want to reap where they did not sow. VIVA CBU
just wek hard and dont be a complainant owez as if u hav researched much. no wonder little knowldge is sometymes more dangerous than no knowledge at all .
CBU does employ dull people.Most students are much brighter than most of those lunatic-lecturers who passed by memorizing issues.Just look at SOB assistant dean,himululi-whatever her name is,etc.Only are handful galant men are inspiring like shikaputo,haabz and mwale.shew!
The complainant must have been some guy who failed to clear Tailoka’s 140. That is all i can say
UNAM is an well recognised international institution. There is a strict selection criteria and the learning experience is great.Not compared to the congestion and strikes at cbu and the poor living conditions at unza. Poor lecture room facilities just to mention a few
Food for thought!!!