400 unlicensed tertiary colleges to be shut down

Acting Higher Education Minister Hellen Sambili said the institutions had violated the law and continued to operate, two years after their certificates expired. Photo/FILE

More than 400 middle-level colleges will be closed down in January following their failure to renew operational licences.

Acting Higher Education Minister Hellen Sambili said the institutions had violated the law and continued to operate, two years after their certificates expired.

“The ministry will embark on a countrywide closure of institutions that have failed to comply with the requirements,” she said.

There are only 363 registered colleges in Kenya while 99 have been awarded temporary certificates. However, 395 others are working with expired licences.

In a list based on provinces, Eastern Province tops the list with the highest number of unregistered colleges at 54.

Coast Province has 25 colleges, which have never applied for licences while Central harbours 13 of the dubious colleges.

Western Province has 11 as do Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces. Nairobi Province has seven, while North Eastern holds six.

Most such institutions are in urban centres, with Nairobi alone having 194 colleges operating with expired licences.

Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Thika and Edoret are other towns with questionable colleges.

Even more worrying is the fact that most of these colleges offer their own certificates, which the minister said was illegal.

The list of registered colleges is available at the ministry’s website: www.highereducationandtechnology.go.ke.