Fred Matiang'i asks varsities to offer quality education

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has asked local Universities to put in place structures that will ensure students get quality and relevant education.

Dr Matiang’i said the National Audit of universities in Kenya recently carried out by the government revealed there were weaknesses that compromised the quality of higher education.

“There is a level of recklessness which we cannot live with, We have hurt ourselves,” Dr Matiang’i said in a press statement sent to newsrooms on Monday.

The CS, who spoke during an induction workshop for public university council members in Naivasha on Monday, urged the institutions to put in place quality assurance systems to safeguard academic standards.

He also asked the institutions to review credit transfer system which he said was being abused by some universities.

SATELLITE CAMPUSES

The CS said that the embargo on the creation of satellite campuses of universities still remains in force.

He said Tanzania and Rwanda had just carried out an audit of their universities which saw 16 institutions closed down in Tanzania and five in Rwanda for failing to meet the minimum standards set by the regulatory bodies.

He said that while some of the problems like financing higher education, the capacity of institutions and governments to meet the increasing demand for university education were uniquely Kenyan, questions about relevance and quality of university education were global.

Dr Matiang’i, however, said universities had the capacity to address these weaknesses and transform their institutions into centres of excellence.