• The CS ruled out the possibility of the government of increasing finances to universities.
• Magoha directs CUE to prepare a report on the status of university education in the country and hand it to him within a month.
Image: JACK OWUOR
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has urged universities to consider courses that they are offering to avoid duplication.
Magoha was addressing vice-chancellors on Monday during the high education conference.
“Why do you have to duplicate courses? Where this university is doing law, the other is doing the same. We cannot establish new universities that will only duplicate courses offered in existing ones,” Magoha said.
He challenged universities to offer courses that are beneficial to society.
Currently, Kenya has 74 universities, with 31 public universities, six public constituent colleges, six private universities, 18 private constituent colleges, five private constituent colleges and 14 institutions with Letters of Interim Authority.
No new university had been established in the last two years, with Magoha saying the freeze will continue to be enforced as one way of addressing the quality of higher education.
The education reforms were started in 2015 by Magoha’s predecessor, Interior CSFred Matiang’i.
The CS said that his office has received 30 requests for the establishment of new universities.
Magoha, however, dismissed the applications saying that the ministry cannot afford it.
Instead, he said there is a need to strengthen the universities that are already in place.
I am an ugly face that people don't like because i say things as they are. Why should universities offer courses only a few kilometers from another university that is well established and teaching the same.Education CS George Magoha
Magoha has further directed the Commission for University Education to interrogate the quality of some of the PhDs being offered in the universities.
He directed the commission to prepare a report regarding the status of university education in the country and hand it to him within a month.
The CS ruled out the possibility of the government of increasing finances to universities.
"Stop dreaming and thinking that the government is going to give you money. It will not," Magoha said.
Instead, he challenged universities to come up with other options for cutting costs.
Last month, Magoha blamed some universities for introducing what he termed as funny and irrelevant courses which attract few students.
The Commission for University Education in February proposed that academic programmes that fail to attract students to be scrapped after four years.
According to official figures released last month by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service, 98 programmes offered by at least 40 universities did not get any placement from KCSE 2018 candidates.
Although there were applicants, no student was selected to pursue the courses since they either did not qualify or were placed to one of their other choices.