Commission for University Education chairman Chacha Nyaigotti Chacha. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Universities have until Friday to provide data on student
population, lecturers’ research and academic qualifications, number of
teachers and graduation list for the past five years in the
quest to merge the institutions.
quest to merge the institutions.
The institutions will provide
the data to the Commission for University Education (CUE), which will
play critical role in determining the viability of the universities and
campuses and ultimately their merger and closure.
The merger of universities and campuses as well as review of academic courses mean that some staff will have to be let go.
Public universities have 27,000 staff with 9,000 being lecturers.
The
key focus of the regulator will be the quality of degrees,
student-lecturer ratio, adequacy of teaching and learning facilities in
universities, qualifications of faculty.
“The commission has already met with the Cabinet Secretary,
Ministry of Education and briefed him on the progress towards
achievement of this assignment,” said CUE chief cxecutive Mwenda
Ntarangwi.
The
universities are also required to indicate the number of international
students enrolled, number of PhD students and supervisors, graduation
list for the last five years, research outputs by academic staff for the
last two academic years and partnerships, among others.
On
research outputs, the CUE wants universities to provide details on
number of publications in each school or department, number of
innovations as well as patents.
The higher learning
regulator is also seeking graduation details, listing number of
candidates who scored first-class to credit level in different
programmes, among others.
The CUE also wants details on
PhD students who have completed their studies as well as those still
studying together with details of their supervisors.
Public
universities have run into financial difficulties and are fighting off
claims that the degrees offered, especially Masters and PhDs, are
questionable.
Since 2016, several campuses have been
shut after lower entry grade cut student population, adversely affecting
the lucrative parallel degree programmes in which students paid fees
based on market rates. The universities have been the hardest-hit by the
sharp drop in the number of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
candidates scoring the C+ and above, which is required for university
entry, further worsening their cash flow.
The Kenya
National Bureau of Statistics data shows university enrolment decreased
to 426,965 last year from 452,494 in 2016 — a decline of 25,529.
Some
of the universities that have shut some of their campuses include
Kisii, Laikipia, Moi, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and
Technology, Kenya Methodist University, Catholic University of East
Africa and the University of Baraton.
Others are Co-operative (Meru), Kabarak (Nairobi) and South Eastern Kenya University (Nairobi).
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