THE Council of the University of Zambia (UNZA) has told the Lusaka High Court that its former student, who has sued it for loss of expectation of employment, did not graduate because he failed one course.

The Council has further denied failing to secure a proper course record of its former student.

This is a matter in which Kabungo Mumbi, a former UNZA student, has sued the University Council in the Lusaka High Court for allegedly failing to keep and secure a proper record of his course records after some of his courses went missing.

He lamented that that he has been unable to find any source of employment since he completed his University education.

Mumbi is now seeking, among other claims, an order that he has satisfied the requirements for the award of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Adult Education and an order directing the University Council to immediately rectify its student course records and confer a Bachelor of Arts Degree on him.

He stated in his statement of claim that his expected year of graduation was 2016, but that on September 15, 2016, when his final year results were published, the results were incomplete as courses represented by course codes AED3414, AED4815 and AED3515 were all missing.

Mumbi added that the “sad state of affairs” implied that he could not graduate and to be conferred with the certificate, being a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Adult Education.

He further stated that on November 30, 2016, he made an appeal to the Council through the director of the Institute of Distance Education bringing to its attention the grave anomaly and requesting that the anomaly be rectified.

Mumbi stated that as a consequence of the appeal, his course record was partially rectified, and that the courses AED4815 and AED3515 were accordingly awarded leaving out only course AED3414.

But in its defence, the University Council stated that the reason codes AED3414, which was Research Methods in Education and Project was missing on Mumbi’s course records, was because he did not complete all the three components of the course.

“The Plaintiff (Mumbi) did not graduate as he did not pass the course in question, which is Research Methods in Education and Project, code AED 3414. Research Methods in Education and Project, code AED 3414 had three major components. These being Research Theory, Statistics and Project,” it stated.

The Council stated that Mumbi completed the taught components, which were Research Theory and Statistics, but, however, did not do the project.

It added that the implications of not completing all three components of the course translated into a fail.

The Council stated that Mumbi had not met the criteria to be conferred with a certificate of Bachelor of Arts Degree in Adult Education having failed Research Theory, Statistics and Project.

“The defendant will further reiterate and aver that the plaintiff failed the course in question and that is the reason the course doesn’t appear on the course record. The Defendant did not at any time fail to secure a proper record of the Plaintiffs Course Record,” it stated.

“Save as herein specifically admitted, the defendant denies each and every allegation in the Statement of Claim as if the same were set out and traversed seriatim.”