Focus on Private Universities
East African writers tend to categorize institutions of higher learning in three categories, including public, private and university constituent colleges, colleges/technical institutions and commercial colleges. This edition of Education Insight reviews cross-border issues in the management of the provision education by these institutions in the region.
Today we have a total 39 private universities and 27 public universities in these countries who are accredited to the Inter-University Council for East Africa although almost a similar number are not affiliates. The affiliation of public and private universities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - including Rwanda and Burundi - within the region and to foreign universities is an example of provision of cross-border education. The growth of these universities in the region has been tremendous and played a significant role in the production of competitive graduates into the labour market. The success story of private investors in higher education is a pointer to the fact that the private developers have immense potential to fast track the growth of the emerging East African Community (EAC) through education. Most of the investors in private universities operate legally with Interim Letters of Authority.
The quest for education is at an all time high in almost all circles of education in Eastern Africa. This in turn has attracted increased participation from the private sector. Shrewd investors in education know ‘the bubble in the sector is not about to burst any time soon’. In Kenya, the business investment in the education sector has transformed overnight into a thriving multi-billion shilling industry, showing no tell-tale signals of slowing in the near future. Public universities have taken the cue and are rapidly expanding – many have invested in the purchase of buildings in cities and nearly all major towns in the region.
The 80s and 90s saw the emergence of private institutions in Kenya and the rest of East Africa. With the exception of some institutions, most private universities in East Africa are religion sponsored with the majority having limited capacity for enrolment ranging between 500 students in the smallest institution to 2000 in the largest one. Their class sizes are, therefore, relatively small in comparison to public universities – class size being one of the indicators of effective teaching/learning.
The curriculums of most of these institutions began with orientation towards Arts and Commercial courses; but have re-engineered their business, retooled and expanded their resources adequately to address the needs of courses in science and technologies.
Private universities have established themselves as pace-setters in the East African higher education sector and are now poised to take the lead in cross-border education. These institutions depend for their revenue on the tuition fees generated from students. Such heavy dependence on tuition, coupled with lack of alternative income sources has made them charge fees that are higher than those levied by the state sponsored universities, thus seen by the low income families as expensive and thus inaffordable to many, in effect, forcing them to limit their services to professionals, business persons and students sponsored by organizations.
Kenya’s Commission for Higher Education (CHE)
In 1995, the Commission for Higher Education (CHE) was established under the provisions of the Universities Act. According to its statutory powers, CHE was expected to play an active role in the planning, development, budgetary matters and maintenance of quality education. The later politicisation of planning and development of university education seems to have effectively denied the Commission this particular role.
Although these functions gave considerable statutory powers to CHE to run university education, a number of criticisms have been levelled on the operations of the CHE. One of CHE’s statutory functions - the accreditation of private universities - has been its main preoccupation since its secretariat became operational in 1986. The mushrooming of private universities has focused the Commission’s energies in developing accreditation instruments to regulate and permit the award of charters.
Interestingly, vice-chancellors who are normally represented on CHE and praise its work on accreditation of private universities, effectively bypass the CHE when it comes to their own expansion programmes. They defend their institutional autonomy, which each university enjoys by virtue of its own statute, and clearly resist the notion of ceding part of it to CHE. They believe that rationalisation of departments and related planning issues are best handled by freely negotiating amongst themselves.
The CHE statutory requirement to make regulations in respect of admission of persons seeking to enrol in universities and provide central admissions services to public universities, as well as the maintenance of standards for courses and examinations, were rendered inoperative through the creation by the vice chancellors of the Joint Admissions Board (JAB).
There is no specialized agent for accreditation of cross-border provision of education in Kenya. The functions are undertaken by the Commission for Higher Education (CHE), individual public or private institutions. Collaborations between cross-border education providers and recognized public institutions of higher learning in Kenya are managed by individual institution.
In some instances CHE would approve one or two courses but some colleges and substandard universities exploit the situation to include other programmes without CHE’s knowledge. This greatly compromises quality. The calibre of staff in many of these university constituent colleges leaves a lot to be desired and it is not uncommon to find diploma holders teaching undergraduate programmes.
Fees charged by trans-national providers are comparable to those charged by private universities. These fees are 50% more than those charged for similar courses in public universities. The charges can only be afforded by middle and upper level economic strata who can therefore qualify for better jobs, posing a serious implication to the achievement of the national goals of equity and social integration.
The situation in Kenya can therefore be said to also pertain to other East African Countries considering the fact that Kenya was the first to take on the onerous task of expanding higher education in the region.
Parallel Degree Programmes
Continuous demand for education in East Africa has forced public universities to be more innovative by mounting privately sponsored courses commonly referred to as parallel degree programs – whereby, apart from the regular students sponsored by the government, universities are also admitting students who are self-sponsored. These students take their lectures separately in the evening and weekends or together with the regular students.
Collaboration between any public university and a transnational provider is initiated through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This is allowed in the respective Acts of Parliament for the various public universities.
Role of the Public and Private Sector in Tanzania
The government role is now changing from that of a key player to that of a facilitator in the provision of education in Tanzania, providing a more conducive environment for the private sector to increase its investment in education. Private investment in education establishes a learning environment that will allow imparting both knowledge and technology to the youth for more active participation in the agricultural sector and the economy as a whole.
The country universities are guided and regulated by a body specifically established to ensure that they follow and adhere to international academic standards that can compete anywhere in the world. The Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) is an autonomous agency established through the Universities Act, No. 7 of 2005, as one of the key agencies responsible for guiding and regulating the higher education sector in Tanzania. TCU is mandated to set, monitor and ensure the standards, appropriateness, relevance and adequacy of all inputs, processes and outputs of university education in Tanzania.
The quality assurance process tasks at TCU involve setting general standards of quality and quantity of contents of programmes and model their execution by higher learning institutions. It also revolves around promotion of quality assurance standards in higher learning institutions and involvement of stakeholders in fostering of diversity, relevance and quality of education, research and expert public service, consultancy and modes of execution or delivery thereof. Other roles of TCU are to audit the quality assurance requirements and mechanisms of universities and evaluation of qualifications of the university staff. In enforcing quality assurance, the TCU notices hurdles in registration of students and the general process for admission into higher education.
University Admission Procedures in Uganda
Admission to Uganda’s universities and institutions of higher education is based upon passing the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education. “High pass” is the ideal. A student who is over 25 years of age may apply for admission based upon “mature entry admissions.” Such students must have completed “A” levels. Students who have completed diploma and certificate courses are also eligible for admission.
The executive head of universities is known as the vice chancellor, who administers the institution on a daily basis. The chancellor is the ceremonial head and usually is only seen on campus at graduation when he awards degrees. Many private institutions are headed by rectors, including the Islamic University and the Catholic National Seminaries. Each faculty within a university is headed by a dean, while departments have either heads who are appointed by deans or directors who are elected by their faculty. Faculty boards or councils are the highest governing bodies in the administration of schools, institutes, or faculties. The boards set standards for teaching, research, curriculum development, and student admissions. Middle-level institutions are headed by principals or directors who manage their institutions in accordance with policy guidelines formulated by their board of governors.
In most universities and institutes, committees are popular methods of self-governance. They are democratic and insure that work is completed efficiently. Along with staff associations, workers committees, student unions, and faculty senates, they help run such institutions.
In public universities students who are nationals pay nothing; government covers all of their costs and meets their pocket money requirements and transportation costs as well as boarding expenses. Since the Ministry of Education covers administrator salaries, staff salaries, and faculty salaries as well as building and maintenance costs, each university must submit an annual budget estimate to the Ministry of Finance.
Foreign students account for 1 percent of total student enrolment and are charged $US 6,000 per year. Most are refugees whose expenses are paid by the United Nations. For foreign Ph.D. candidates it cost between $US 5,000 and $US 7,000 per year. This total does not cover the costs of research or equipment, travel, accommodation, or related expenses, which could easily double these figures.
Foreign students accounted for 1 percent of all students enrolled in institutions of higher education in 1999. Most foreign students attended Makerere University and many were sponsored by their home governments, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, or the Inter-University Student Exchange Program.
Uganda’s Private Higher Education
Although the enrolment in private institutions is still small, the potential for future growth is enormous. More than 10 private universities have been established or are in various stages of inauguration. It is estimated that these universities catered to a total of 3,600 students in 1998-99 including master’s degrees in various arts subjects. In contrast to Makerere University’s secularism, many of these universities are founded on religious principles (including Islamic, Anglican, Catholic, and Seventh Day Adventist).
Rwandan University Admission
Rwandan university admission is highly competitive, especially in fields such as medicine, engineering, law, and pharmacy. The quality of education is considered reasonably high, despite lacking material resources. In an effort to attract international enrolment, all Rwandan universities operate on a modular, semester system. Most international students are from neighbouring countries where French is dominant and want to adhere to a bilingual system.
The minimum university standard for admission to post-secondary education is a ‘C-’ in all subjects. Failed students can retake exams as independent candidates to get the minimum or higher required grade.
The Catholic Church was the first institution to undertake formal education in Rwanda in 1914. It was not until 1963 that the state established the National University of Rwanda (NUR). Since that time, the combined efforts of church, state, and the private sector have yielded 11 more institutions of higher education.
Only about one-third of the population is literate, however. In the mid-1980s about 452,400 students annually attended primary schools, and about 17,000 attended secondary schools.
Rwandans in the United States
Five hundred and twenty five (525) Rwandans are enrolled in 118 U.S. institutions in 37 states. Each year, newly enrolling Rwandan students are awarded $1.2 million in financial assistance for study in the United States. Rwanda is one of the few countries in Africa with direct admission agreement with La Roche College, Oklahoma Christian University and Georgetown University.
A system of ‘universités du soir’ (Night School University) has been established to widen access to university. However, there has been some debate over the quality of courses being offered
Education is free and compulsory for all children aged 7 to 13, but the law is not widely enforced. Primary school is for seven years, followed by six years of secondary education. Most primary and secondary schools are under the direction of religious missions, but many receive state subsidies.
The Université Du Burundi
The Université du Burundi (1960), located in Bujumbura, is the leading institution of higher education in Burundi with an enrolment of about 2200. Some 13,300 students were enrolled in vocational and teacher-training programs.
The University of Burundi, which uses French as a primary language, is located in the capital city of Bujumbura and is the country’s only major university.
Sudan
There are many universities in Sudan; foreigners attend universities here, because the reputation of the universities is very good and the life expenses are low compared to other countries.
Commercial Colleges in East Africa
With the high cost of private universities parents have found themselves balancing between their preferred course and affordability; they are then forced to seek alternative recourse in commercial colleges, which offer a raft of courses ranging from early childhood learning to medicine and marine science. They claim to train students on special skills that may be useful to certain employment. Such skills may include business courses, accounting, and computer skills. Some give false claim of working in collaboration with prestigious western universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and London and international examination bodies. Others claim to offer international diplomas from leading institutions without identifying the institutions. They promise to teach technical courses such as computer engineering, software development and programming to students with average grades of ‘D’. Yet they are unregistered back-street academic sites set to swindle the public of hundreds of thousands of shillings annually. While it takes two to three years to obtain diplomas from reputable institutions, such colleges offer the same within three-six months, thereby appealing mostly to parents and guardians who are financially constrained.
Proper consultation is however vital when choosing appropriate colleges of study to avoid disappointments. Some of the commercial colleges lack adequately trained manpower to deliver the courses that they provide, thereby making the quality of some of their graduates questionable. Moreover, they are known to fleece unsuspecting students and their parents of their hard earned money without providing the skills required in the job market.
Courses on offer include computer driving licenses, business and marketing, journalism, aviation, hotel management, travel and tourism, and law; also public relations, software development, hospitality and foreign languages. Where it takes three years to obtain a diploma in registered colleges it takes only six months in bogus colleges – you could get up to three diplomas in a year. Some claim to offer computer engineering, software development and programming to candidates who scored Grade ‘D’ in KCSE. No one is turned away
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because of having low grades.
Besides those bogus colleges, some academic sites claim to offer Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs) study centres and to help students score high grades in SATs, although they have nothing to prove their claim; what is known about them is that they rip off parents with children intending to join universities in the United States.
IUCEA’s Effort to harmonize high education in East Africa
The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is a regional inter-governmental organization whose mission is to encourage and develop mutually beneficial collaboration among universities in East Africa, and between them and governments and other organizations, both public and private. It is one of the autonomous institutions of the East African Community (EAC), the umbrella body that brings together the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Following the dissolution of the University of East Africa, and the establishment of the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Makerere University and the University of Nairobi in 1970, an Inter-University Committee for East Africa was created under the East African Community (EAC) to facilitate collaboration among the three national universities. The committee functioned very well under the aegis of the Community and after the collapse of the latter body in 1977.
In 1980, the three Vice-Chancellors agreed to maintain the committee through signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which led to the birth of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA). The MoU set out the objectives, functions, membership and governance of the Council.
In 1999, after the Partner States recognized the Inter-University Council as one of the surviving institutions of the former East African Community, it was agreed to establish a corporate body to be known as the Inter-University Council for East Africa. At that time IUCEA was not a legal entity. Following the revitalization and recruitment of a new set of staff in 2000, the Governing Board embarked on the development of legal instruments to make IUCEA a legal body. In 2002 the Protocol for the establishment of the IUCEA was signed by the three Partner States with the aim of harmonizing and providing a legal framework within which to undertake activities of the IUCEA.
The IUCEA coordinates Member Universities Staff Exchange Programme for the purpose of fostering inter-university cooperation among East African universities. Participants of the programme undertake a range of assignments in their host institutions including teaching, special lectures and research. The participants also serve as external examiners, and they participate in seminars, workshops and conferences. They also undertake collaborative research assignments. This process will develop and sustain a culture of quality in its member institutions. There are Students’ Exchange Programmes recognizing the need for the people of East Africa to share their limited resources in order to accelerate the development of their region, and in the bid to promote co-operation among East African Universities, the IUCEA maintains a programme for the exchange of students in universities of East Africa at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. New guidelines have been approved to involve students from all the 5 East African Partner States in the Programme.
This is an encouraging start to the whole process of harmonization of education in East Africa which can be developed to include the whole educational system right from kindergarten to university level. It is now left upon the policymakers in the member states to look at their specific needs and coin a strategy that will help create a real harmonization process that can create a people who are truly a community of East Africans with a common standard of education in the current very competitive and global market place.
By Mossez Bulemi
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Today we have a total 39 private universities and 27 public universities in these countries who are accredited to the Inter-University Council for East Africa although almost a similar number are not affiliates. The affiliation of public and private universities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - including Rwanda and Burundi - within the region and to foreign universities is an example of provision of cross-border education. The growth of these universities in the region has been tremendous and played a significant role in the production of competitive graduates into the labour market. The success story of private investors in higher education is a pointer to the fact that the private developers have immense potential to fast track the growth of the emerging East African Community (EAC) through education. Most of the investors in private universities operate legally with Interim Letters of Authority.
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