By Wasike Elvis
The Ministry of Education has come up with measures to streamline university education in all public universities across the country.
Speaking in Eldoret town recently, Cabinet Secretary for Education Amina Mohamed said the reforms will help to improve the quality of education offered in universities.
“The Commission of University Education (CUE) is reviewing the depth and substance of the university programme to eliminate unit duplication and shallow unit content taught to students,” she said.
She also noted that the Ministry of Education has diversified composition of University Council by engaging all Principal Secretaries and senior education stakeholders to support university in their areas of jurisdiction.
“We have also launched office of Career Service as a mandatory feature in all tertiary institutions and all universities must conform to the directive by December 31,2018. Government has increased Science and Technology Innovation Grant from Sh500 million to Sh3 billion to support research and innovation,” she added.
“The appointment of Chairman of Council, its members, Chancellor and Vice Chancellors will be done in an open process to attract qualified personnel and discourage localisation of universities,” said the Education CS.
The measures will help to resolve challenges such as poor curriculum and inadequate infrastructure to match curriculum reforms and increased enrolment.
She also revealed that the Ministry has initiated University Education Dialogue Series (UEDS) where the Cabinet Secretary will personally engage with students as a critical component in reforming the education sector.
“The first University dialogue was conducted at University of Nairobi and second one in Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University. The Third will be held at Moi University,” the CS said.
As much as the CS education talk about improve quality of education in public universities I feel private universities should also be considered with the aim of improving the quality of education in the country. I see practical cases of people who held invalid undergraduate degrees being enrolled for masters and PhD programs in some universities mostly private universities; and these are engaged either as part time lecturers in this universities. are we compromising quality in this?