The Commission for University Education (CUE) has been inspecting universities to assess standards and demanding compliance with regulations as contained in its charter.
Issues under audit include staffing levels and the status of libraries, laboratories, students’ facilities and quality control systems.
While these are routine activities, they were given urgency by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, who, last year, directed the regulator to intensify the process and prepare reports that would form the basis for transforming the institutions.
The CS, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Nairobi for 10 years, reproached the institutions over unnecessary courses, unplanned expansion, duplication of degree programmes, financial impropriety and irregular examination processes, promising to knock them into shape.
But almost a year later, nothing has become of the pledge although VCs of public universities met and prepared a report that suggested specific reforms.
Apart from the UoN and Moi University, which scrapped some degree programmes, it’s business as usual elsewhere.
The upshot of this is that many public and private universities don’t follow standard procedure.
This insouciance to the rule of law is betrayal of the thousands of students, who report to class every day hoping to secure meaningful jobs or set up businesses in future.
That Prof Magoha pronounced himself in public that the universities are being run incompetently was an indictment of the institutions’ managers, lecturers and students.
Besides, the remark raised questions about the qualifications and skills produced by the universities. This is why he must follow through his pledge to reform the institutions.
The universities cannot attract grants, endowments or donations if there is suspicion that the money will not be spent prudently; worse, when their credibility to conduct research is under question.
They can also not attract foreign lecturers or students if the teaching or learning quality is in doubt.
Employers could also be reluctant to hire their products owing to quality questions — which would be a huge blow to the graduates, who will have invested a lot of time and money in the courses.
The CS should carry out the reforms he promised to streamline higher education and protect the institutions from reputational damage, from which they could take years to recover.
Higher education managers have to confront the challenges of financing, quality and resources.
The CS should engage the VCs and, together, work for transformation of the institutions. Universities cannot operate the way they have for decades and expect to excel.
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