Kenya: Minister Streamlines Higher Education Sector

By Eric Sande

Nairobi, Kenya---Up to 600 colleges risk closure in Kenya if they fail to seek fresh registration. This comes in the wake of mushrooming bogus colleges claiming to offer diplomas and degrees, a worrying phenomenon in the country.

Higher Education Minister William Ruto released a list of 445 registered public and private colleges, and warned parents and students that the rest are not recognised by the Government. He said though the 600 institutions had provisional licences, they must get fresh approval for them to continue operating. He gave a 21 days notice to hundreds of colleges operating illegally to register or be closed down.

"We advise parents not to take their children to colleges that are not in our books. It will be a big waste of time and money since the papers will not be recognised," he said at his Jogoo House offices.

Most of the affected institutions are private colleges as the Government moves to restore sanity in the education sub-sector that has been infiltrated by entrepreneurs only keen to make a quick buck off naive Kenyans.

The action by the minister comes tardy, but is nevertheless necessary. The thirst for education is high and it is important that the Government raises the bar on requirements for private colleges to ensure people do not spend money only to discover later that no employer worth their salt can take their qualifications seriously.

Public Universities also have been put on notice by the government to stop upgrading middle level institutions to become their constituent colleges. Speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the signing of performance contracts for 65 public universities, constituent university colleges and technical colleges, Ruto said the trend was a threat to the production of middle level personnel, whom he said play a key role in nation building.

“The managers cannot create wealth without the other personnel from our middle level colleges”, he said.

He said middle level colleges should receive the attention they deserve through proper funding and trained staff. He added that Government will inject Sh2 billion (US$25 million) to 10 technical colleges countrywide to help them revamp their workshops.

Among the middle level colleges that have recently been turned into constituent university colleges include Bondo, Narok, Chuka, Meru, Kabianga, Kisii, Kimathi, Mombasa Polytechnic, Kenya Polytechnic, Ukamba Institute and Pwani, among other institutions.

Under the Education Act, Ministry officials must inspect a college’s facilities, curriculum and teaching staff. The buildings must have a title deed or lease of at least six years. But a source at the ministry blamed corrupt officials for issuing registration certificates to colleges that don’t meet the requirements and laxity in cracking down on those doing a shoddy job.

The relevance of course has always been a key issue in the education curriculum in Kenya and Ruto urged universities to focus on churning graduates whose training was relevant to the job market. He said there was no need for the government to continue channelling grants to universities to support courses that were fast becoming irrelevant and cautioned that the government will only offer grants to students who will pursue courses relevant to the country.

‘The Government must get value for its money through proper training of those it was to sponsor for higher education”, he said.

Parents desperate to get their children college certificates have spent millions of shillings as fees, but now the papers will be worthless after Higher Education minister William Ruto nullified them.

"Courses will be funded differently depending on how they contribute to creating the human resource required for economic growth,” Ruto said.

There are standards that have been established by the Commission for Higher Education that private colleges must adhere to. Most of the colleges whose programmes have been condemned had doubtful curriculum, employed poorly trained lecturers and generally lacked the minimum national and international requirements for such institutions.

The Higher Education ministry should roll out a national campaign to educate final year high school students on how to choose colleges wisely and what to look out for. It should also consider the possibility of prosecuting the owners of the colleges whose papers have been rejected for breaking the law.