1,000 doctorate degrees target
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi conversing with German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) President Prof Margret Wintermantel shortly after close of DAAD meeting on collaboration programs with East African (EA) Universities at Safari Park hotel in Nairobi on May 28, 2014. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI (NAIROBI)
What you need to know:
- Regional director Christoph Hansert, said the German Government in conjunction with Kenya’s Ministry of Education will offer 54 scholarships for local students to pursue postgraduate degrees in Germany this year.
- The secretary general of the East African Community, Dr Richard Sezibira, said the community was working towards creating a common higher education zone next year, where students from each of the member states would have a chance to study in any university within the region and pay local rates.
At least 1,000 graduates will be trained up to doctorate level every year to provide a pool of high-level lecturers for public universities.
Part of this will involve scholarships from foreign countries like Germany which has been supporting higher education in Eastern Africa.
At the same time, the government will be setting up the University Funding Board to raise money to develop facilities and support teaching and learning activities in line with provisions of the University Act.
Public universities will also be required to set up quality assurance and standards units to monitor teaching and learning programmes.
These are some of the strategies being pursued to expand higher education outlined Wednesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.
“Our objective is to create systems that will enable universities to offer quality education as they increase enrolment to meet the needs of a growing population,” said Prof Kaimenyi.
The minister outlined these strategies during a media briefing after opening a regional conference on higher education cooperation between Eastern Africa and Germany that started on Wednesday at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi.
The three-day conference is organised by the German Academic Exchange Service and marks its 40 years of operation in Eastern Africa. It is being attended by vice-chancellors, rectors and scholars from East African countries, many of whom are beneficiaries of German scholarships.
Regional director Christoph Hansert, said the German Government in conjunction with Kenya’s Ministry of Education will offer 54 scholarships for local students to pursue postgraduate degrees in Germany this year.
The secretary general of the East African Community, Dr Richard Sezibira, said the community was working towards creating a common higher education zone next year, where students from each of the member states would have a chance to study in any university within the region and pay local rates.
The president of German Academic Exchange Service, Prof Margret Wintermantel, said her organisation would be supporting initiatives to develop tools for enforcing quality standards in East African universities.
