Only PhD holders will teach in varsities, says CS Jacob Kaimenyi

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi

NAIROBI: Only lecturers with Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) qualifications will be allowed to teach at universities, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has said.

Speaking at Maseno University's graduation ceremony Wednesday, Kaimenyi said his ministry is set to scrap posts of assistant lecturers in institutions of higher learning in order to raise education standards.

"I see myself as having a great responsibility of raising the bar of education in this country. Our education must be of high quality and very relevant," he said.

He said lecturers in all public and private universities will have to comply with minimum requirements for appointments and promotions set by the Commission for University Education.

"There shall be international and customised ranking of academic programmes that will take into account reality of our universities.

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"Public lectures shall be the norm in the universities. It is regrettable that we do not have public lectures in universities yet it should be the culture here," he said.

He said he also expects to see the culture of inaugural lectures adopted in Kenya.

"If you become a full professor you must tell Kenyans what you are made of," Kaimenyi said.

He challenged directorates of quality assurance to ensure their work is conspicuously visible, especially in environment-related issues.

He also urged the Maseno University graduates to ensure they make a difference in their environment by setting high standards to be emulated by those aspiring to join universities.

He congratulated Maseno University for managing to get 32 PhD graduates, 32 per cent of them being women.

During the ceremony, former Safaricom boss Michael Joseph assumed office as the fourth chancellor of the institution.

He also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his telecommunication engineering and information technology expertise as well as being an accomplished business leader.

He said universities need to tailor their qualifications to the needs of the labour markets, urging graduates to be innovative to create job opportunities.