By Kipkemboi Toroitich
A meeting of university top management staff planned to have started yesterday was in the last minute cancelled by the Ministry of Education, sparking protests from the managers who had already completed their travel and accommodation arrangements.
The first ever International Annual Conference was to be held at a hotel in Mombasa and was to run for three days, with key speakers being invited to address issues of university governance, the relevance of universities in Kenya, and how to transform these institutions in a digital revolution era.
Some of the notable guest speakers expected at the conference were Prof Chacha Nyaigotti, Commission for Higher Education (CUE) Chair and Prof Fatuma Chege, Principal Secretary CBC Implementation.
Others are the PSs in the National Treasury and ICT Dr Julius Muia and Jerome Ochieng’ respectively.
Delegates to the conference were derived from all public and private universities, with only senior management staff, including chancellors, vice chancellors and principals of constituent colleges, being invited.
University Education PS Simon Nabukwesi regretted the cancellation in a memo, saying the meeting had been postponed due to ‘unavoidable circumstances’.
“The conference has been deferred due to unavoidable circumstances. New dates will be communicated in due time,” read part of the memo.
Concerns have been raised over the drastic decision, with some university senior staff complaining they had already booked air tickets and hotel rooms with payments upfront. Even the event organizers had secured venues and made down payments.
“Who will reimburse us the expenditure we have incurred? Some of our colleagues have even travelled to Mombasa. It is an embarrassment,” remarked one VC.
He wondered why the communication could not have come earlier, noting that the topics that were to be interrogated had far reaching implications on new directions university education was to take.
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