UoN drops tea, snacks, printing on paper as cash crunch bites
Prof Peter Mbithi, the University of Nairobi vice chancellor. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG
What you need to know:
- The university has restricted tea and snacks to meetings of the Senate, the institutions governing body that comprises the Vice chancellor, deputy VCs, principals of constituent colleges, deans and chairmen of the teaching departments.
- In a raft of proposals to the Senate, the university has proposed that its staff stick to using email, limit meeting time and print on both sides of paper.
University of Nairobi cut down on staff tea and snacks as well as photocopy following a cash crunch brought home by a dip in students enrolment.
The university has restricted tea and snacks to meetings of the Senate, the institutions governing body that comprises the Vice chancellor, deputy VCs, principals of constituent colleges, deans and chairmen of the teaching departments.
In a raft of proposals to the Senate, the university has proposed that its staff stick to using email, limit meeting time and print on both sides of paper.
“Printing on both sides of the paper, use email, print only when necessary, make meeting short, remove tea and snacks in meeting except Senate,” reads the notice outlining the austerity measures.
HIRING FROZEN
University of Nairobi cash flow has been the hardest hit by the sharp drop in the number KCSE candidates scoring the C+ and above grade required for university entry cut enrolment.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows its enrolment declined to 67,827 this year from 98,715 in 2015—making it the first drop since the government started making public student numbers in the 1990s.
The low entry grade has derailed the lucrative parallel degree, which over the past decade because the institutions money minting machine.
The university is also shedding jobs and has frozen hiring of lecturers.
The university said it received Sh391 million from the Treasury for the pay of its 4,945 workers against a need of Sh870million, leaving it with a deficit of Sh500million.
