Education CS Fred Matiang’i has expressed concern that public universities staff were wasting valuable time fighting instead of teaching and conducting research.
He said public universities were faced with so many lawsuits which were taking University managements' time which should be used to create the environment for quality teaching and research.
The CS was speaking Monday when he officially opened the First Biennial Conference on the State of Higher Education in Kenya at Kenyatta University.
He also ordered the Commission of University Education to halt the creation of satellite campuses, saying it was necessary to protect the quality of university education in the country.
He expressed concern that the ratio of graduates to technicians was too low.
He said the government had decided to invest in the development of technical and vocational training to address the skills gap in the country’s workforce.
“A constant review and policy driven conversation must happen to ensure that this direction by the government is both sustainable and indeed meets the development needs of the country,” he said.
Matiang’i said despite the expansion of University education, only about a third of students who qualified for university education joined on direct entry.
He expressed the need debate on the role of private enterprise in the participation in and provision of higher education with a view to candidly exploring ways in which the government can facilitate private enterprise in the higher education sector.