|
|
Kenya: Varsities Increasing Revenue At the Expense of Service Quality
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Nation (Nairobi)
12 July 2008
Posted to the web 14 July 2008
Kipchumba Some
Nairobi
Lack of adequate facilities is the greatest challenge facing the privately sponsored students programme. Often, universities admit more students than their limited facilities can cater for.
"There is so much thirst for money amongst our public universities that they sometimes overlook issues of practicalities when admitting students," acknowledged Prof Everett Standa, the secretary of the Commission for Higher Education (CHE).
It is common to find students in public universities listening in to lectures from outside overcrowded lecture halls. Accessing library facilities has also become virtually impossible as students compete for the few books available.
Market-driven
Some universities have also established market-driven programmes like Engineering, Law or Journalism, while they lack requisite facilities such as well-equipped laboratories and qualified lecturers.
Universities have also established constituent colleges all over the country as they attempt to tap more money. Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology leads the pack with 22 "satellite" campuses. In most cases, these campuses are understaffed and lack adequate facilities to undertake higher education.
The quality of teaching that takes place in the evening classes which run from 5.30pm to 9pm has also been called into question.
"This time is inadequate to do purposeful reading," said Mr Thomas Kiyeny, a PSSP student at Masinde Muliro University.
"In addition, lecturers are too tired to teach. They simply give us assignments instead of proper teaching," Kiyeny says.
Furthermore, universities lack enough teaching staff to cater for the high number of students.
Not ready
"University administrations are reluctant to employ more lecturers yet they keep on admitting a large number of students every year," said Dr Sammy Kubasu, the national vice chairman of the University Academic Staff Union.
"This will definitely impact negatively on the quality of learning in our universities."
However, it is said that lecturers are not ready to raise such concerns because they don't want the allowances they receive for teaching parallel programmes reduced.
"Why would I complain yet the situation is benefiting me?" posed a lecturer from Maseno University who spoke on condition of anonymity.
|
Prof Standa says many of these problems will be solved once the Higher Education Bill is passed in parliament. The Bill empowers CHE to control all aspects of higher education in the country, including admission, quality maintenance, and employment of lecturers.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
