Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has challenged universities to continuously review their standards with a view of ensuring they are in tandem with industry needs.
The CS said this calls for among other things eliminating duplication of programmes and expansion to all areas of innovation and research necessary to keep the universities in a position to compete with giants such as Oxford University.
Machogu was speaking on Friday during the 70th graduation ceremony of the University of Nairobi.
“I must state that it is not enough for this university to shine in its academic excellence in Kenya. Indeed we are often given the good news that this university has been ranked among the top ten best universities in Africa,” Machogu said.
“I wish to challenge you to raise the standards even higher and enter the charts of the globe. In this sense, I ask all our universities in Kenya to continue reviewing their standards.”
The CS said the government is ready to support universities in their reform trajectory that will ensure quality teaching research and innovation for students and academics.
Machogu said this can be exemplified by the government’s move to pull public universities out of an economic crisis where they had sunk deep into pending bills amounting to Sh70.7 billion.
He said the government has also already disbursed Sh9.2 billion in loans and scholarships to first-year students as it rolls out the New Higher Education Funding model.
The new model aligns government funding to the accurate cost of programmes in each university whilst ensuring that students from vulnerable backgrounds are not disadvantaged.
“I wish to thank the Vice Chancellors for keeping our First Year students in their institutions to attend to their lecturers as we processed their loans and scholarships,” Machogu said.
He said the government is keen on alleviating the burden of debt on universities and is thus actively exploring avenues to address the substantial debts owed by the institutions to other government agencies such as the KRA, NSSF, and NHIF.
The CS, however, appealed to the universities to exercise patience as the government works at systematically addressing their financial difficulties in line with the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms Report’s recommendations.
“Allow me to assure you that the Ministry will progressively work towards resolving all your concerns in an environment of dialogue so we ensure that access to quality education remains unimpeded,” the CS said.
Machogu further challenged universities to collaborate closely with industries to produce graduates with the right skill sets demanded by the market.
He said this is necessary as the country transitions from the 8-4-4 system to the Competency-Based Curriculum with the key focus on tackling youth unemployment.
“To this end, universities must establish training facilities, secure resources, and foster global partnerships that ensure our educational quality is on par with the best in the world,” he said.