Varsities may be made to stick to specialties

The Commission for University Education (CUE) is on Tuesday expected to receive a report detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each public university.

An important detail in the expected report, according to CUE chief executive Prof David Some, concerns recommendations about the programmes that each public university should specialise in, as opposed to the growing trend in which most universities want to offer as many courses as they can.

A team of 42 higher education professionals comprising Kenyans, Tanzanians, Ugandans, and Rwandans, has been conducting capacity audits of public universities to determine the quality of their programmes, facilities, and capabilities.

Thus, if a university is found to be better equipped to offer the arts than sciences and it insists on offering science degrees, it is likely to be advised to drop the latter.

“We are waiting for the team to conclude its job by Tuesday and advise us on the strengths of the different universities. We want universities to stand on their strengths... We will also introduce ranking after this process,” said Prof Some last week.

“The commission wants to ensure that quality is observed and is strengthened as students have over time complained about it,” he added.

The report is required before the seven public universities are awarded charters as now necessitated by law. The seven are the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Egerton University, Moi University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Maseno University, and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

The awarding of the charters will conclude the repeal of the Acts of Parliament that created the institutions following the enactment of the Universities Act 2012 in December.

“The team is supposed to hand in an accreditation report that will recommend the chartering of the universities. The report will also point out mistakes in these institutions, their strengths, and the quality of their programmes,” explained Prof Some.

The Universities Act 2012 states that all universities, both public and private, should be chartered.

Section 68(1-2) of the Act states: “A public university existing immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be a university established under this Act and shall take the steps prescribed under this Act to obtain a charter within a period of one year after such commencement. The charter shall be subject to and construed in accordance with the provisions of this Act.”

The 42 education auditors were split into groups of six, forming the seven teams that were each given the task of auditing a public university. They were given 10 days from January 30 to complete the task and present a report, according to Prof Some.

This comes at a time when Kenya is seeking ways to improve the standards of higher education, which have been affected by crowded classes and inadequate numbers of teaching staff. The perception of declining quality of education in local institutions is believed to be pushing more Kenyans to foreign universities.

Many universities have established campuses and learning centres with little regard to the conduciveness of the environment. The rapid expansion has also constrained resources, including lecturers, leading to the temptation to hire less qualified personnel.

The parallel degree programmes, driven by commercial interest, have attracted an unmanageable number of students. It is common for students to miss seats in lecture halls. Some learn while standing or sitting on the floor.

In Prof Some’s view, the new regulatory spirit brought about by the fresh law is expected to promote sensible quality parameters for both private and public universities and create a competitive playing field. It is hoped that this will push the public institutions to improve their standards in order to get good ratings.

The CUE ranking formula will base appraisal on the institutions’ learning and research impact, not merely size and number of courses offered.

Key considerations in the process will include the reputation of the institution among employers, the quality of its facilities in relation to the programmes on offer, and the lecturer-student ratio.

Further, the executive secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa, Prof Mayunga Nkunya, pointed out in an interview last year that even with national ranking of universities, it should not be lost to policy makers that university education in the region must also be gauged against global standards.

“National policy makers and higher education institutions must take account of a global environment in which international comparisons are constantly made across the world,” he stressed.
“One is supposed to concentrate on their strengths. They have to prove their worth and put the quality of higher education in Kenya at a different level,” said Prof Some.

The issuance of charters to the seven public universities will bring to 14 the total number of public universities to be given charters by President Mwai Kibaki since the enactment of the new law. He has so far chartered seven university colleges into full universities. He is expected to give charters to the remaining eight university colleges before he retires.