- Establishing a university in every county without a clear national strategy could dilute the quality of higher education.
- The writer has cautioned against automatically converting teacher training colleges into university colleges without an evidence-based assessment.
- There is a need for a differentiated higher-education ecosystem instead of multiple universities offering duplicate degree programmes.
The idea of having a university in every county sounds attractive. It promises equal access to higher education, regional development and an end to the concentration of educational opportunities in a few major towns. Politically, it is an easy proposition to sell: every county deserves a university.
But good policy cannot be built on the appeal of a slogan. If implemented without a clear national strategy, the push to establish a university in every county could ultimately dilute the value of university education itself. The fundamental question should not be how many universities we can establish, but how many universities we can adequately fund, staff and equip to provide high-quality education and produce meaningful research.
A university is not simply a collection of lecture rooms bearing a prestigious name. A serious university requires highly qualified academics, laboratories, libraries, research funding, postgraduate programmes, modern technology, strong governance and meaningful links with industry. These are expensive investments, and when scarce resources are spread across too many institutions, quality inevitably becomes difficult to maintain. Instead of developing a handful of globally competitive universities, a country risks creating numerous institutions that struggle to attract top academics, conduct serious research or provide students with adequate facilities.
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Rethinking the conversion of teacher training colleges
This concern becomes particularly important in light of the recent approach of converting teacher training colleges into university colleges. The proposal deserves a serious rethink. Teacher training colleges have traditionally served a distinct and important purpose: preparing teachers through specialised professional training, and their contribution to the education system should not be undervalued simply because universities carry greater public prestige.
Converting these institutions into university colleges may appear to be a convenient way of expanding university access and infrastructure. But we should ask whether it is the best use of these institutions and public resources. There is a danger that, in our enthusiasm to increase the number of universities, we may undermine institutions that are already fulfilling a critical national function. The country needs excellent teachers just as much as it needs university graduates, and teacher education should therefore be strengthened, properly funded and continuously modernised, not automatically transformed into university education simply to satisfy the desire for more degree-awarding institutions.
Before converting teacher training colleges, policymakers should undertake an evidence-based assessment of the country’s teacher workforce, future demand, institutional capacity and the quality of teacher preparation. Where there is a genuine academic and economic case for upgrading an institution, that case should be considered. But conversion should not become an automatic policy simply because every county is expected to have a university.
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More Universities, Same Degrees
There is also the question of duplication. Does every county need a university offering essentially the same degrees, among them education, business, information technology and social sciences? If institutions compete for the same limited pool of students and lecturers, the result may be more certificates without a corresponding increase in skills, innovation or employment. This is particularly troubling in an economy already grappling with graduate unemployment and underemployment; expanding university enrolment is not automatically the same as expanding economic opportunity.
What the country needs is differentiation, not duplication. Rather than attempting to put a conventional university in every county, policymakers should consider a more deliberate higher-education ecosystem, with some institutions specialising in science and technology, others in agriculture, medicine, engineering, tea…
By Mark Otieno Jonyo
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