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Public University Education in Kenya

Opening Up the University: Reflecting on Pertinent Concerns in the Explosion in Demand for Public University Education in Kenya.

Kenya has in the past decade experienced a mounting demand for university education. This demand for higher education may be understood partly (and firstly) as resulting from the phenomenal physical expansion in university education since the country attained independence in 1963.Then,of equal significance in this scenario, has been the liberalization in admission policy in the recent past which has facilitated the inclusion of previously excluded prospective students. At independence, there were only 571 students enrolled in what later became the University of Nairobi (Weidman, 1995). The public university system has grown from a situation of just one institution- the University of Nairobi (UoN)-in 1970s, to six public universities by 2001.

The physical expansion of university education has also been accompanied by an attendant explosion in number of students. Whereas the number of enrolled students in public universities was a mere 3000 in the early 1970s, it was in excess of 40,000 at the turn of the century in year 2000. During their thirty years of existence, state universities in Kenya have accomplished a lot. They have been able to produce adequate human resources for the civil service, national corporations, and the private sector. The rapid growth of state university education has however been faced with serious challenges. The public universities in Kenya have increasingly had to grapple with enrollments that have outstripped their capacity to plan and finance. They are threatened by fiscal challenges and a possible decline in quality of education. It is worth mentioning therefore, the fact that the university education scene in Kenya has also embraced the participation of private universities. In an effort to counter problems such those outlined above ,private universities have emerged .This segment of the higher education system has seen a steady growth in both the number of institutions as well that of enrolled students .It has continued to contribute notably to higher education and is now established as a vibrant alternative to the government-owned institutions.

The public universities took on a bold initiative to expand access to university education through the introduction of parallel degree programmes (also referred to as the self- sponsored students programme).This step was also accompanied by an expansion in the range of curriculum offerings to attract and reach out to the formerly left out yet interested prospective university public. The opening up of access to university education happened against a background of dwindling financial support from the government. Universities have increasingly had to cope in difficult circumstances occasioned by budgetary cutbacks. Currently, the most difficult challenge facing the expanded university education lies in the successful resolution of the inherent tension that underlines the efficient and effective utilisation of existing resources on one hand and intensified demand for more and better education on the other (IPAR, 1999)

This article seeks to examine some of the issues, challenges and prospects relating to the emergent high demand for university education in Kenya, with specific reference to public universities.

A rationale for the introduction of the parallel degree programmes has been to extend access to a wider population. Thus, there is an inherent equity concern in this approach. Unfortunately, the evident irony resulting from this has been to widen the gap between the poor and more endowed Kenyans. University education is, understandably, an expensive venture. The tuition fees charged for degree programmes, in excess of US$ 1,000 per academic year, is out of reach for many Kenyans. This is especially so, considering the high level of poverty and the poor state of the economy .The result has been that many students have to strain financially to assemble enough resources to pay for these degree courses. Surprisingly, the financial implications have not dampened the enthusiasm shown by students for university education and the demand has continued to soar by the year. This can be explained to a large extent by the competitive nature of the society. The Kenyan society, in spite of the socio-economic and educational inequalities that have existed over the years, has a large number of highly qualified professionals serving in the various sectors of the economy. The economy has however, been characterized by poor growth levels. This has a led to a state of stiff competition for limited opportunities. A high level of education provides for many Kenyans, the only hope of both, entry into the job market, as well as upward mobility in career .This motivation manifests itself in the high demand for higher education.

The most critical concern that threatens the explosion in numbers attending public universities in Kenya has to do with quality. It may still be early in the day to assemble conclusive data on the impact that the number of students has had on quality. The threat however is real, and there is need to initiate serious efforts to nip the potential disaster in the bud. The most obvious and initial sign of a crisis situation was the immediate shortage of hostel facilities to accommodate students on campus. It may be argued that the universities' core business has to do with teaching, research and knowledge creation, and that issues of accommodation are secondary. True as this may be, some contextual considerations work to complicate this assertion. Firstly, public universities in Kenya draw from geographically vast catchment areas and students who miss university accommodation would have to seek boarding facilities rather commute from their homes. Decent and conducive accommodation around the campuses, especially in the city, is relatively expensive. Thus, many students have to make do with cheap accommodation alternatives that do not provide a conducive atmosphere for academic concentration .Such neighbourhoods may also be insecure, denying the student peace of mind. However, the more worrying concerns are to be found on campus. With the increase in admission numbers that began with the double intakes of 1984, 1987 and 1990, the campuses began to experience a strain on the facilities, which unfortunately did not expand correspondingly. It is not unusual to see large halls that serve as lecture halls full beyond capacity, with some students forced to take notes while standing for lack of seating space.
Therefore, even as universities opened up to a larger population with the introduction of parallel degree programmes, they were already steeped in the problems of overstretched capacity.

The issue of quality manifests itself in various dimensions. As the lecturers in public universities grapple with large classes, individual attention that should be given to students is compromised significantly. For example, apart from the classroom test (usually just one per semester for many of the units) it is difficult for a lecturer to give assignments for students to work on individually. The more convenient approach would be to give group work type of assignment that would be handed in as a term paper. Learning and evaluation at the individual level is therefore not optimized. Big student numbers also impact on the quality of testing; it is quite challenging for lecturers to set thorough tests that cover the entire course content because of the difficulty experienced when marking scripts. Examination questions that elicit detailed responses are therefore kept to the minimum to forestall immense workload during marking. The big number of students in some courses such as education also complicates the management of tutorials. Students would have to be organized into many tutorial groups. This requires several lecturers to effectively handle. It also implies availing, several lecture rooms to accommodate the many groups. Conducting examination invigilation also becomes difficult .Packing hundreds of students into one hall to sit an examination, against a relatively small number of overwhelmed invigilating lectures compromises the quality of the exercise. Such examination conditions facilitate examination cheating by students. It is therefore, perturbing that the universities have been unable to expand their physical facilities to adequately match the student population.

The universities need to focus more on strengthening their teaching and research capacities in areas that can spur technological innovation and scientific advancement. This is a pertinent concern for two reasons: With the growing interest in university education, the institutions' potential ability to generate income has been boosted. Then, the number of graduates that universities are producing annually continues to grow rapidly. Soon, there will be a dire need to absorb these graduates into meaningful employment. The growing number of graduates provides a readily available human resource base for an expanded economy.




REFERENCES:

Assie-Lumumba, N'Dri T. (1993). "Higher Education in Franco-Phone Africa: Assessment of the Potential of the Traditional Universities and Alternatives For Development". AFTHR Technical Note No.5, The World Bank.

Morris, Alfred and Sizer, John (ed.) (1982). Resources and Higher Education .Society for Research into Higher Education., Monograph 8.

World Bank (1988) .Education In Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies For Adjustment, Revitilaization, and Expansion .The World Bank.

Posted by: Sarah S.

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