NEW! Higher Education Quality Erodes as CHE Watches
Written by Riziki Makokha |
Nairobi's city center and other cities in East Africa are becoming hubs of universities offering all sorts of diplomas and degrees in all sorts of buildings. Competition is fierce for space and foreign and local universities are turning new and old buildings in Nairobi and major towns into colleges and campuses. Institutions of higher learning are in a rush to cash on the misfortunes of students who miss university admission in local public universities. More than 100,000 students miss university education annually. In scramble for the market share of these student with a minimum of C+, virtually every local public and a number of private universities have opened at least one campus in Nairobi's central business district – and in other East African cities and major towns.
As the demand for higher education increases and many universities turning commercial buildings into campuses to respond to the rising demands the quality offered has come under scrutiny. Most of these institutions lack space, with some taking as little as one floor, but they purport to be offering foreign degree courses in collaboration with foreign institutions of higher learning. What type university education would you get from congested classrooms, poorly equipped libraries, and shortage of lecturers? Worse still, some of them admit their degree students every month - a thing that not even the most prestigious universities can afford to do. To conceal this malpractice these institutions whitewash their images with glossy brochures showing pictures of beautiful campuses with state-of-the-art buildings and equipment focused to hoodwink the public.
Documents obtained from the Commission for Higher Education (CHE) shows that these universities and colleges situated in buildings within the city are far from meeting the required standards. They lack facilities such a staff common rooms, student common rooms with indoor recreational facilities, outdoor recreation facilities and a dispensary. Other requirement according CHE are classrooms or lecture rooms, libraries, central administration office space, departmental areas, staff offices and seminar rooms. Institutions conducting courses requiring the use of laboratories as part of instructional facilities must, in addition to providing classrooms and lecture theatres, provide adequate laboratory facilities. CHE requires institutions operating on rented property to show evidence of a lease of sufficient duration to allow the progression and graduation of last registered students.
To curb the rise of bogus universities in the Kenya the government crafted a law to regulate their operations in 2004. The Universities Act (Cap 210 B) stipulates the steps, which must be strictly adhered to by public institutions offering degree or are working in collaboration degree courses with foreign universities were laid. The commission for Education was charged with the role of quality assurance and standards. However a spot check in Nairobi showed that most of the institutions collaborating with foreign universities are yet to be validated by the Commission for Higher Education – reason ‘we offer degree courses from institutions in Europe, US and the Far East.’
Time is catching up. The new draft laws on education and training requires local colleges wishing to collaborate with any university to offer degree courses should seek the consent of the CHE.
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