The curse of killing small ‘campos’

The Commission for University Education (CUE) has been on a mission to shut down satellite campuses that have contravened the Universities Act.

Laikipia University has shut down six campuses across the country, Kisii University has shut down five out of its 10 campuses and merged others, while Maasai Mara University has closed down five satellite campuses. But why did these campuses exist in the first place? Should they not have been inspected before opening their doors for admission?

Speaking to Campus Vibe, the Director of Quality Assurance at Moi University Prof Laban Ayiro said:

“According to regulation, the satellite campus should be a mirror of the Mother University. They come short because they are set up first, then later CUE comes in,” he said.

Dr Duncan Omanga, also from Moi Universty revealed to Campus Vibe that the smaller campuses are set up using the main campus’ charter. Speaking against their setup, Omanga said there is a lot of politics that played before setting up the institutions and is a major reason why checks are ignored.“Some of these institutions are irrelevant. How do you have a campus that has no field for example? Yet they are supposed to look like the mother university,” said Dr Omanga.

Prof James Ole Kiyiapi speaking to Campus Vibe however supported the move by the CUE, saying that all the affected universities knew what they were supposed to do prior to the clamp down.

“They were given time. This is all about abiding by regulations,” said Prof Kiyiapi. However, he cautioned against the ever growing influx of smaller satellite campuses saying it should be checked.

“Don’t open too many campuses though. It is important to focus on a few so we can control the quality of education,” added Prof Kiyiapi. In Kenya, Strathmore University is among the few major institutions that have no satellite campuses.