Decision to de-link constituent colleges from their mother institutions was premature and creates a situation where some will be more equal than others, writes WACHIRA KIGOTHO

Kenya has one of the biggest numbers of higher education ‘academic orphans’ in sub-Saharan Africa and unless the Government grants the cast-off institutions special favours, danger looms in the quest for quality education.

In four short months — December and March — the Kibaki regime gave 15 public university constituent colleges full-fledged university status. This rose the number of public universities from seven to 22.

In fact, there is nothing wrong in increasing the number of public universities.

However, given the thin base in which universities can draw their staff and other learning resources, former President Kibaki’s decision to de-link constituent colleges from their mother universities was, by and large, premature. Universities, everywhere, are not in the same academic leagues with village primary and secondary schools that can be established overnight as they require minimal resources and teachers are readily available.

The primary definition of a university, as a place where students go for different kinds of knowledge and where different schools of thought make contributions, has not changed. And lowering of universities from a high academic ground, as has happened in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has transformed many universities into glorified high schools and academic garages.

Prof Akilagpa Swayerr, the former secretary-general of the Accra-based Association of African Universities, says African universities have almost retreated from scholarship, innovation and their central mandate of creating the human capital for sustainable development.

Academic pygmies

“Data from UNESCO indicates that the proportion of world patents and academic publications in internationally referred journals by African academics stand at below one per cent,” says Sawyerr.

Nonetheless, this is not to say African scholars in African universities are inherently academic pygmies compared to their world counterparts. Too often, African academics are faced with problems of having to teach large cohorts of low academically-motivated students in overcrowded lecture halls.

The issue of low salaries, brain drain, poor staff development initiatives and absence of well-equipped facilities for teaching complicate the matrix. Libraries also suffer shortage of relevant books and journals.

However, upgrading of the constituent colleges to full universities was a major disadvantage. It means the new universities can no longer draw teaching and research resources and even academic leadership from their mother institutions. In eyes of the of the general public, Karatina University is now equal to Moi University, while Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the former Bondo College, is equivalent to Maseno University.

However, in real sense, some universities are more equal than others and there is no way Kabianga University, South Eastern Kenya University or Meru University could be of the same status with the original elite universities.

In their present form, the new universities are overwhelmed by lack of highly trained lecturers and professors, especially at PhD level, non-existence of research facilities, limited physical facilities and low budgetary levels. Already, there are indicators the universities will suffer low enrolment levels in Module II programmes as they are in competition for students with former mother universities.

Taking into account that Module II students are the new-found cash cows for the public universities to raise extra funds, the new universities are already disadvantaged as few parents will be willing to send children there. Subsequently, without financial resources to mount attractive degree programmes, the new entities are likely to concentrate on courses that are frequently offered in commercial colleges.

According to Dr Carol Bidemi, a specialist in development of higher education in East Africa, the booming business of private entry scheme to public universities is dictated by attractiveness and pull of degree programmes that are on offer. So far, almost 70 per cent of the private higher education in public universities in Kenya is under control of three universities: University of Nairobi, Kenyatta and Moi.

For now, it is unclear as to whether the new universities will maintain high enrolment of Module II to earn reasonable revenue yet Bidemi insists “at least 50 per cent of a public university’s funding in Kenya is derived from private students.”

Reputation factor

Granted that the demand for various types of education at all levels has greatly increased and more so in the last ten years, few parents would be willing to send children to universities that ‘have no name’ in the market.

“With a narrow job market, companies are almost spoiled in their choice of candidates and graduates from elite public and private universities seem to have an upper hand in job market,” says Bidemi.

Reputation of a university matters and the demand for its graduates grows in tandem with the institution’s local or international prestige. For instance, when President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were looking for men and women to implement their Jubilee manifesto, they seemed to have gone shopping at the University of Nairobi. More than 80 per cent of the nominated Cabinet secretaries hold undergraduate or postgraduate degrees from the university.

Whereas the new universities may be a notch higher above the academic garages in urban areas, they were far much better when they operated as constituent colleges of the elite public universities. At least the degrees that were awarded from the constituent campuses were of the mother universities and effectively had a high mark of quality.

Confronted with degrees from the new universities four years from now, most employers will ostensibly take time before freely start hiring graduates from those institutions. Other managers will probably play safe and continue recruiting from tested grounds.

Comparing source

The managers would like to know whether a B.Com degree from Chuka or Karatina universities will be the same as those awarded by the University of Nairobi, Strathmore or Moi universities.

They would like to know whether a BSc in Computer Science from Meru University of Science and Technology will be the same as the one awarded by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Similarly, an owner of a private secondary school would like to know whether a B.Ed degree from Laikipia University will be equal to that from Kenyatta or Egerton in that matter.

Although the Council for University Education might try to calm such fears, employers will no doubt be choosy taking into account that quality of graduates has been inconsistent.

Subsequently, for a university to establish a niche market for its graduates in a particular area, it has to develop solid degree programmes that are comparable to those awarded by leading world universities. Besides, such a university has to be a centre of excellence in that field in the country it is located.

Also the young public universities will have hard time establishing themselves as national universities, in the first place. Most of them, being former harambee institutes of technology and local teachers’ training colleges, have more or less retained ethnic relics that will be difficult to erase.

Although it could be argued the universities were established as a result of high demand for higher education, it is hard to disprove most of them were creatures of political considerations. It is strange that while it took many years to plan and establish a second university in Kenya, the Kibaki regime just needed four months to create 15 of them!