At the Milimani High Court, Justice William Musyoka found that Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale had no legal power to order Mount Kenya University to stop its Bachelor of Science in Oral Health programme.
More than 225 students can continue their training. The court said the programme remains accredited and legally recognised under the Commission for University Education.
The case summary identifies programme approval and discontinuation as functions of Kenya's university regulator, rather than a sector ministry.
Under the Universities Act, CUE has sole authority to approve, accredit, recognise, inspect or discontinue university academic programmes. The Ministry of Health could not close the course through its own correspondence.
Justice Musyoka also rejected the Ministry's attempt to present its letter as informal advice. The wording amounted to a binding order. It sought to stop the programme and threatened the studies, training and career plans of every enrolled learner.
The dispute began after the Ministry argued that the course did not match Kenya's oral health needs. It also questioned whether graduates would have a clear route into professional practice.
The Oral Health Association of Kenya challenged the intervention in court. It argued that the Ministry had moved into CUE's regulatory jurisdiction.
The available search results did not include an independently verified copy of the judgment, the Ministry of Health letter or a CUE notice. They also did not establish whether an appeal or further enforcement step followed the ruling.
MKU offers the programme through its Department of Dental Sciences. CUE accredited it in 2016.
The course is also registered with the Oral Health Association of Kenya. It has trained students for careers in oral healthcare and dental therapy.
Kenya's wider oral health system depends on education and training routes that produce practitioners. An earlier analysis examined how reforms can leave oral health behind when public care does not properly include it.
The judgment puts programme regulation with the higher education body named in law. A ministry cannot act alone in that area.
It also protects students who committed to a course that CUE had already approved.
The immediate result is simple. Affected learners can continue their studies without the uncertainty created by the Ministry's directive.
They can keep working toward careers in the healthcare sector.
The ruling rejects the Ministry's overreach. It restores CUE's role as Kenya's sole regulator of university academic programmes and gives students a clear legal basis to continue.
