• An adamant CS has refused to dismiss mergers as one of the ways to address the mess.
• Magoha gives the example of leading universities such as Oxford and the University of London that have embraced the art of merger by expanding through colleges.
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A standoff between university vice chancellors and the education ministry looms over a plan to merge the cash-strapped institutions to keep them afloat.
Yesterday, Education CS disagreed with a report prepared on his orders by the VCs over the planned reforms.
In the report, the VCs argue that the current challenge is not the number of universities or programmes but the level of funding by the government.
The report also opposes the plan to fire staff. Instead, they want more lecturers hired in order to increase the lecturer-student ratio.
However, an adamant CS has refused to dismiss the merger plans as one of the ways to address the mess.
Magoha said that the ministry will await a report by the Commission for University Education to give a way forward.
The report will include an audit on ongoing infrastructure projects in universities, the number of learners in the institutions per course and the number of staff.
“When you have too many universities scattered around, you are duplicating the administrative structures. But the bigger problem is that you are thinning the faculty,” Magoha said yesterday.
The CS said leading universities such as Oxford and the University of London have, for instance, embraced the art of mergers by expanding through colleges.
Oxford University has 38 colleges while the University of London has 18.
Magoha also reaffirmed the need to consolidate similar academic programmes to ensure greater resource efficiency.
The move will also ensure universities specialise in programmes in which they have stronger bases.
“The Commission for University Education must conduct a thorough analysis of these courses with a view to addressing this scenario, including a review and scrapping of such programmes,” Magoha said.
The report is set to be submitted to the CS by Wednesday.
The CS also suggests that universities within the same proximity should not teach the same courses.
The Universities Academic Staff Union has opposed the merger plan, saying it is punitive and risks undermining higher education.
“Why is the same government which set up the institutions now keen on closing them?” Uasu secretary general Constantine Wasonga asked at a press conference on July 4.
Wasonga said the mergers will affect jobs, and wondered how merging broke universities can make them financially sound.
“We will not accept new policies without public participation,” he said.
(edited by O. Owino)