Radical proposals to restructure universities into centres of excellence

By Hezron Roy

Repositioning universities as centres of excellence and review of technical directorates within State Department for University Education and Research (SDUER) in the Ministry of Education will help Kenya’s universities to improve their performance, a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Education proposes.

In his book titled Roadmap on Kenyan Intellectual Capital Causers, 2021, Archbishop Vainadu Titus Zakayo Ingana, the acting Director of Research in the Directorate of Research, Science and Technology (DRST) in the SDUER, argues that in order to reap maximum benefits from universities, centres of excellence should be established in all universities and in particular public universities with specific mandates. He says this will develop capacities and produce competent employable manpower.

As part of their mandates, universities should be tasked with establishing seeking solutions to problems facing the Kenyan society.

“Universities are institutions of higher learning expected to play a critical role in the socio-economic development of nations and societies. They should be at the forefront of seeking solutions to problems facing societies,” states Archbishop Ingana.

According to Ingana, universities should not only focus on existing problems but should be able to analyze patterns and trends and anticipate potential gaps for both present and future actions, and develop robust research agenda based on emerging issues. The training programmes and research agenda should be geared towards producing research outputs and innovations that enable the society to deal with existing and emerging issues.

While giving examples of universities harnessing the readily available and immense solar radiation in our tropical environment, and the current practical example of how common weed is being used to produce dye for textile by Moi University’s Rivatex, Ingana notes that training programmes and research agenda should take into consideration existing natural resources for societal good.

In view of the prevailing challenges and emerging issues in the management of university education in the country, Archbishop Ingana proposes that the current Directorate of University Education (DUE) be split into two, each headed by a director at Job Group (JG) ‘S’ under the Secretary, University Education,  at JG ‘T’.

“As institutions providing the much-needed intellectual capital, Kenyan public universities have not performed to expectations. There is a mismatch between skills produced at these universities and the needs of the labour market,” notes Ingana in his book.

The new post of Secretary, University Education, will offer advisory services to the Ministry of Education on technical matters dealing with university education.

He further suggests that the two directorates be split into Directorate of University Governance and Student Affairs (DUGSA), which will be responsible for deployment and implementation of policy, monitoring and evaluation, coordination of stakeholders and performance management, among other roles.

The other is Directorate of Partnership and Projects (DPP) responsible for policy partnerships development and implementation, administration of scholars and coordination of donor-funded projects, among other duties.

Currently, the DUE is only responsible for local and international university education, projects and partnerships, policy and planning, and is headed by a director at JG ‘S’.

In the same vein, Ingana proposes that the current Directorate of Research, Science and Technology (DRST), which he heads, also be split in two, each headed by a director at JG ‘S’ under the Secretary; Research, Science, Technology and Innovation (RSTI) at JG ‘T’.

The new post of Secretary RSTI will offer advisory services to the ministry on technical matters dealing with research, science, technology and innovation.

The proposed splits for DRST are the Directorate of Research Management and Development (DRMD) responsible for development and implementation of RSTI partnerships, management of global obligations, coordination of resource mobilization, research infrastructure, and coordination of the RSTI monitoring and evaluation activities.

The other is the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) mandated to develop and implement RSTI policies, provide technical and expert policy support, disseminate research findings, manage RSTI statistics and repositions, and evaluate RSTI.

Archbishop Ingana’s proposed public universities’ centres of excellence