Public universities want measures put in place to fix staff shortage, financial crises and low student intake.
Vice-chancellors say the country's 74 universities have the capacity to enrol 160,000 students if provided with necessary resources. Currently, they only admit about 90,000, which is pegged at the minimum admission grade of C+.
The varsity bosses spoke during a workshop at Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge, Naivasha. It continues today.
Karatina University VC Mucai Muchiri said nearly all the public universities are in a financial crisis. He said they are out to seek alternative sources of revenue to protect the quality of education.
“The financial crisis has been there since the government scrapped parallel modules,” he said.
The professor expressed concern that the number of students pursuing Agriculture and Natural Resources courses is on the decline. This spells doom for the country’s food security plans and the Big Four Agenda, he said.
“In two years, we shall have a crisis in universities, with the staff who have been training these courses facing layoffs due to lack of students,” Muchiri said.
Commission for University Education CEO Mwenda Ntarangu attributed the drop in admissions to stringent KCSE exam marking, which, he added, has ended cheating and irregularities.
“In the past, the government used to fund universities, but with the increase in the numbers, it has been hard to sustain them financially leading to the current crisis,” he said.
Director of Universities Darious Mogaka, who was the guest of honour, admitted that the financial crisis threatens higher education.
“Since the government stopped funding universities, there have been challenges and the way to handle this is to seek new sources of revenue collection,” he said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
