State to continue placing students in private universities, says CS Magoha
By James Wakahiu
The government has no intention of stopping sponsorship of students in private universities and colleges, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has said.
The CS dismissed a proposal by some MPs to reverse a directive issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta on admission of government-sponsored students to private universities in 20 years.
Magoha said only the head of state can make such a decision and dismissed sentiments by University Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi that indicated that the Ministry does not support the plan.
“I want to believe he was misquoted. If not, then he was speaking for himself because he is not in charge of policy. I am not aware of such plans as the Cabinet Secretary,” said the CS.
Members of Parliament are pushing to stop the government from sending students to private universities, a move that could spell doom to 34 private universities benefiting from the programme for financial sustainability.
The members of the Public Accounts Committee challenged PS Nabukwesi, to explain why billions of shillings are being allocated to the private universities when public universities are closing down their satellite campuses due to financial problems.
“KUCCPS (Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service) must explain the criteria they use when placing students to both public and private universities, we cannot have public universities close down because they have no students yet billions are being sent to private universities,” said Garissa Township MP Aden Duale.
According to Magoha, analysis has even shown that it is cheaper to admit students to private universities. “It costs less than 50 per cent to send students to private universities. And they have equally level facilities,” he added.
Reacting to the call Dr Vincent Gaitho, Pro-Chancellor Mount Kenya University (MKU) said the thinking of the MPs is rather shallow.
He said the government is funding Sh157, 000 per student in public Universities compared to Sh67, 000 in private universities.
“Treasury is the biggest beneficiary while students enjoy the comfort of private sector ambience and conducive environment offered in the private institutions,” he said.
Prof Gaitho said there is always heavy traffic towards private universities whenever the government opens the inter-universities transfer window.
“I wish the MPs could think of better ways of making public universities centres of excellence to help address national development issues than making them means of achieving shallow political interests,” he added.
Magoha said the placement of students to private institutions is also anchored in law, adding reversing such a decision requires stakeholders’ participation. Section 56 (1) (a) of the Universities Act says Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) shall “co-ordinate the placement of the government-sponsored students to universities and colleges”.
Universities Fund Board CEO Geoffrey Monari had told the MPs that the government pays Sh157,000 on average to students in public universities while private university students receive Sh67,000 each on average.
“We use the differentiated unit cost to fund students depending on the course they are pursuing,” said Mr Monari.
Mr Monari said the funding to private institutions has been increasing annually. “In the 2021/2022 private universities were allocated Sh3.3 billion, in 2020/2021 they were allocated Sh2.7 billion, in 2019/2020 they were allocated Sh1.9 billion,” he said.
The MPs said institutions such as the University of Nairobi, Moi University, Kenyatta, Garissa, Maseno, and Murang’a are all struggling to survive as they do not receive enough funding due to the low number of students.
“There seems to be a collusion with these private universities and I am going to suggest that the Universities Amendment Act of (2013), which allows the government to start sending students to the private institutions, be amended,” said Mr Duale.
In the 2021 placement, public universities were unable to fill their declared capacities, with some unable to meet half of the students they expected.
The MKU don called on national leaders and university managers to cast the net wider by making Kenya an education hub for international students rather than fight over what the Kenyan catchment can offer.
