University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stephen Kiama has defended the move to increase university fees, saying that it will not apply to any student who is currently admitted at the institution.
Speaking on Monday, Kiama said that each program falls under a different cluster, which was approved a long time ago and that there was no 118 per cent as it has widely been claimed.
"There are no fees going to be increased for a student admitted at the University of Nairobi, we will continue to absorb that deficit because it's on us."
"There was no fee increment by 118 per cent that is just people’s calculations there’s what we call differentiated unit costs which are agreed on 14 clusters," Kiama said on Citizen TV.
His words came hours after the University of Nairobi protested the move, saying that they had given the administration 48 hours to revise the directive to increase fees.
The VC insisted that consultations were held before the decision was made by the institution, among many other changes as the institution undergoes restructuring.
"We have engaged staff for a long time we have sent out questionnaires to staff to give their views through committees," he said.
Kiama noted that the clusters are charged based on the student ratio and the material needed to teach the students.
According to the university, some of the reasons tuition fees have been increased include; every course having its own costs, fees have not been revised in the last 10 years and changing needs of the clients and industry, among others.
Kiama said that when he took over running of the university, he discovered that the institution was living beyond its means and was in debt.
He also explained why the university cut down the number of courses from 579 to 324, stating that they were incurring more costs than they were making as an institution.
