Kenyan Universities Mull Fee Hike as Debt Headache Worsens
Poor financial management, underfunding, ethnicity-driven hiring and blatant violation of the law are some of the factors that have brought public universities to their knees.
An analysis of the most recent reports filed by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu on public universities shows many of them are technically insolvent and have to rely on funding from government and expensive short-term loans.
Students and their parents may have to bear the brunt of the rot by paying higher fees, which appears to be the only way the government-owned institutions can be kept afloat.
Worryingly, only a few of the institutions attracted income from their research activities, a serious indictment of their performance on the core function of a university.
Besides financial woes, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has flagged violation of the law in hiring of staff, with reports indicating a majority of the institutions' employees are from the dominant communities where they are established, in contravention of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, writes David Muchunguh for The Nation.
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Kenya:
Cash-Strapped Universities Mull Fee Increase as Debts Surge
Nation, 5 November 2021
Poor financial management, underfunding, ethnicity-driven hiring and blatant violation of the law are some of the factors that have brought public universities to their knees. Read more »
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Kenya:
Broke Moi University Mulls Increasing Fees
Nation, 3 November 2021
Moi University, which has accumulated a debt of Sh4.5 billion, is unable to meet some financial obligations and will resort to fee increments. Read more »
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Kenya:
UON Fee Rise - Thousands of Students Fail to Report
Nation, 25 October 2021
Edith Kithei Musomba had to raise money from well-wishers to join the University of Nairobi following the recent fee increment. Read more »
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Kenya:
MPs Want Government to Stop Sending Students to Private Universities
Nation, 14 October 2021
Members of Parliament yesterday began a push to stop the government from sending students to private universities, a move that could spell doom to 34 private universities… Read more »
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Kenya:
Why USIU-Africa is Under Financial Stress
Nation, 23 August 2021
The United States International University-Africa's (USIU-A) financial position suggests that all is not well at one of Kenya's best established private universities even as it… Read more »
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