The report on quality audit of
university education by Kenya’s Commission for University Education (CUE) was a
sobering indictment of the state of university education. The problems are
grave and range from missing grades to the quality faculty staff to widespread
academic fraud.
The findings of the CUE report, which
was released early this year, demands that bold actions must be taken to restore
the credibility of Kenya’s universities. This is especially critical in the age
of a competitive knowledge-based global economy. Our true and most dependable
resource is the quality of our human capital. We cannot afford to gamble with
the future of our youth.
The time to act to restore confidence
in public universities and secure the future of our country is now. Last week
Dr. Matiangi, CS Education, urged stakeholders to re-examine how public
universities are run. According to Dr. Matiangi, a lot of “bad things” are
happening in our universities and the government could no longer “live with the
kind of wastage and corruption that thrives in our universities”.
Dr. Matiangi has signaled a raft of
reforms. These include tightening financial management. For example, the
Universities Funding Board will manage financial disbursements. Moreover, all
tuition revenue from parallel programs will be remitted to the national
treasury. In 2015, Treasury CS revealed that public universities accounted for
the largest share of “missing billions” of internally generated funds.
Public universities have not been
transparent about their staffing levels. A recent audit revealed that all 31
public universities were not honest about the number of employees they have,
inflating the figures by 2,513. In his recommendation for reform, CS Matiangi
wants all support staff to be hired on contracts as opposed to the current
terms, which are permanent appointments.
Furthermore, Dr. Matiangi recommends that
junior academic staff, tutorial fellows and lecturers, should be hired on short
contract basis. Only senior lecturers and the professoriate will be hired on
permanent and pensionable terms. As one would expect, this will be resisted by
the Universities’ Academic Staff Union.
The reforms proposed by CS Matiangi can
make a huge difference. One would hope that the Universities Funding Board does
not become a painful, inscrutable new cuticle of bureaucracy, which in time
becomes infected with Kenya’s most inevitable afflictions, corruption and
ineptitude.
The transition of terms of employment
from permanent to fleeting contracts must be managed with sensitivity. Untidy
contracts for junior faculty could dry out the supply of a dynamic and
motivated reservoir of future professors. We must be clear about the criteria
for promotion to the ranks of senior lecturer – the golden gate into
permanency. Dr. Matiangi must tread carefully here.
That Dr. Matiangi’s
reforms are well meaning is not in doubt. What is in doubt is whether these
reforms can be executed conscientiously. The future is summoning all of us to
do the right thing by our children. Universities cannot be havens for
corruption and fraud. Universities must the pillars of rectitude and moral
clarity.

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