• Government views consolidation of universities as one of the options to regulate higher education
• Universities to get Sh102 billion in 2019-20 budget, the highest allocation ever
Image: JACK OWUOR
In the past 10 years, every public university boss has dreamt of opening a new campus with the lucrative infectious expansion.
But in a sudden twist of fate, the fad has turned into a financial nightmare.
This is after the government announced it would not spend more cash to support their operations.
This leaves tough choices for university heads, with the Education ministry proposing radical plans for the institutions.
"Stop dreaming and thinking that the government is going to give you money. We are already giving 33 per cent of the budget to Education; how much more can we allocate?" Education CS George Magoha said on Monday in Nairobi.
The national budget 2019-20 is expected to allocate an extra Sh4 billion to the sector up from last year's Sh98 billion.
But in their counter presentation, university heads through the Vice Chancellors' Committee insist on the need for more.
VCs argue that the cost of training a student currently sits at about Sh250,000 against Sh150,000 paid by the government and the students.
The education stakeholders were speaking in the sidelines of a workshop organised by the World Bank.
Three options
With the death of the self-sponsored programmes, Education CS Magoha has lined up three options for the university bosses.
Top on his list will be closure of some universities, arguing the expansion witnessed in the last 10 years has a negative impact on the university capacity.
Data from the Commission for University Education shows that in the last 10 years, the number of institutions has grown from 18 to 74.
Universities with similar programmes could also come together and establish an alliance, Magoha says.
He termed the idea of many institutions teaching the same courses "senseless", with an urgent need to create specialisation. He cited the ideology behind the formation of Egerton University as an agriculture institution.
The move has attracted vice chancellors' support but has been sharply criticised by the Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha), representing non-teaching staff.
"Why are universities opening a number of courses a few kilometres from another that is well established and teaching the same? The small universities that are coming and opening up are pulling down the well-established universities," he said.
The universities stare at job cuts as the CS suggests laying off some of the non-teaching staff that contribute to about 30 per cent of the university workforce.
This is supported by the fact that every coin the government sends to public universities goes to paying salaries.
Lastly, the government wants universities to mount viable market-driven programmes.
"The government is willing to fund courses that have economic value. This is the only way we can move forward and address the issue of unemployment," he said.
VCs' committee chairman Francis Aduol argues the expansion of universities has left them with more demands and an ever-shrinking budget.
"We are doing very badly. VCs know what the universities should look like but the problem is the circumstances where there is variation in the numbers of students and the amount of funding," Aduol said on Monday.
Aduol noted that universities began to experience rapid expansion in the 2007-08 when the government bought the idea to increase penetration of higher education.
"It is painful that we get A students but we cannot give them out as A graduates. Those inside also want out. Lecturers and senior lecturers leave and nobody is coming in," Aduol said.
(Edited by R Wamochie)