KENYA: Presidential candidates pledge higher education reform

Politicians seeking the presidency in Kenya’s 4 March elections have proposed far-reaching changes to higher education. In manifestos launched in recent weeks, the top candidates have among other things proposed restructuring higher education and making it free, building more technical colleges, new student bursaries and higher salaries for lecturers.

The top two candidates based on opinion polls are sitting Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy Uhuru Kenyatta. The latter, the son of Kenya’s first post-independence leader, Jomo Kenyatta, is a former finance minister who is among four people accused by the International Criminal Court of orchestrating violence that killed 1,200 people after the election in 2007.



Both candidates have suggested higher education-related changes, ranging from the expansion of current capacity to increased funding and bursaries. They are also considering expanding further and technical education in a country where the pool of technical skills has failed to match growing demand for them.

Promises promises

But educationists wonder how the politicians will finance the projects if they rise to the presidency, given that Kenya has been struggling to fund higher education adequately.

Documents from the Ministry of Finance show that Kenya allocated KSh60 billion (US$732 million) to universities in the current financial year, up from KSh44 billion in 2011. But even with substantially increased funding, universities are finding it difficult to deal with surging numbers of students seeking admission.

Kenyatta, through his election vehicle the Jubilee Coalition, has proposed setting up new vocational and technical institutes in every constituency in the country. “We want to expand the number of post-secondary places, the aim being to give fresh secondary school graduates tertiary qualifications,” Kenyatta's manifesto states.

Over the past five years, university student numbers have doubled, from around 91,541 to 180,000, according to Kenya’s Economic Survey 2012. This required major changes to the education system, and concerns have been growing over the faltering quality of learning .

Due to space constraints, only 41,000 out of 118,256 eligible students secured a place at a public university last year. The remaining 76,000 were forced to seek places in costly private universities, join equally expensive ‘parallel’ (full-fee) programmes in public universities or enrol in colleges or youth polytechnics. The numbers are expected to surge further this year.

Kenya is increasing the number of public universities from the current seven to 22. Over the past six weeks, President Mwai Kibaki has awarded eight colleges university charters. Previously the colleges were aligned to existing public universities. Kibaki is expected to issue seven more charters before leaving power after the March elections.

Kenyatta also plans to “establish a business bursary scheme and encourage private companies – through tax incentives – to contribute to the scheme to fund needy students in institutions of higher learning”.

Such a scheme could complement the Higher Education Loans Board, HELB, which has been struggling to keep up with rising demand for funding. HELB receives at least KSh1.5 billion (US$18 million) from the government annually to lend to students, an allocation that has not really grown in recent years and has lagged behind student numbers.

The loans board gives needy students around US$650 a year to help pay fees and boarding expenses, and has been unable to increase the amount for four years despite a surge in the cost of living.

HELB has said it would need an additional US$13 million to adequately support extra students. But with indications that the government is unable to afford this, the loans agency has been forced to rethink its fundraising strategy. Public universities are under pressure to provide admission to 40,000 students over and above the usual intake.

Kenyatta’s Jubilee Coalition also proposes sponsoring students through university in return for a one-year work commitment after graduation.

Odinga’s vision

Current Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said that if were elected president, his government would offer free education at all levels including universities.

“Through public-private partnerships, we will transform public education facilities at all levels to offer quality free education,” he promised in his Coalition for Reform and Democracy manifesto.

“We will also review the employment terms of teachers and lecturers to ensure long service and harmony.”

Pay for lecturers has been a controversial issue. In September, more than 12,000 academic and non-teaching staff at public universities went on strike for better pay and conditions of service, paralysing institutions.

The Universities Academic Staff Union and the Universities Non Teaching Staff Union have been demanding full implementation of the 2010-12-14 collective bargaining agreement signed by the unions and university managements, which guaranteed improved pay and conditions of service after a crippling strike.

More from Kenyatta

Kenyatta also pledged to strengthen the Commission for University Education (CUE), free public universities from statutory status and provide them with independent charters. This would enable the CUE to manage the quality of teaching, research and graduates more effectively, he argued.

The CUE is the successor to the Commission for Higher Education, under the Universities Act 2010 which came into effect last month. It seeks to reform higher education in Kenya.

“We will encourage universities to invest in research, technology and innovation as well as reverse the current trend of turning middle-level colleges into universities and reinstate them,” Kenyatta said.

Over the past five years, many technical colleges have been taken over by universities seeking new facilities to enable them to meet growing student demand. This has irked critics, who have argued that the takeovers are smothering a crucial segment of the education system, denying the economy technical skills.