By Roy Hezron
The proposed University Funding Framework (UFF) by the Universities Fund Kenya will see young universities get the most capital grant allocations.
The proposed funding framework proposes to allocate more funds to younger universities under the age of university parameter in order to help the universities develop in terms of infrastructure.
“Through this parameter, younger universities will be awarded more to aid them construct infrastructure. The younger a university is, the more it will receive and the older a university is, the less it will receive,” reads the proposed funding framework in part.
In most cases, young universities include public constituent colleges and universities that have been recently granted charters to attain full university status.
According to the Economic Survey report 2021, the number of public constituent university colleges increased from 6 in 2019 to 7 in 2020 due to the establishment of an additional public constituent university college.
Other parameters which will be used under capital grant allocation include teaching input and output as well as institutional factor.
Under teaching input grant, the proposed framework suggests that the funds be granted in accordance to the courses being offered to government sponsored students and its respective levels, that is diploma, undergraduate, masters or PhD.
Since the Universities Fund already uses the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) criterion which clearly apportions funds to universities according to the courses they offer students and their respective levels, the same proportion universities receive from their capitation is the same proportion that will be used to allocate the teaching input grant. For example, if a university received Kshs 5 billion (12.5 per cent) from a total capitation of Kshs 40 billion, the same university will receive 12.5 per cent of the teaching input grant.
Regarding the teaching output grant, the framework proposes that the grant shall be allocated according to each university’s graduation rate. This implies that universities whose students graduate within the recommended course duration will receive higher teaching output grants.
On research output grant, the grant will be given to universities depending on the number of publications a university published in the previous year. This framework proposes that the higher the number of publications a university publishes, the higher the funds it will receive from the research output grant kitty.
The award of this grant shall also put into consideration whether a university uses its research outputs to engage in community outreach initiatives that help transform its immediate environment. The grant shall therefore consider the socio-economic impact that the research in the university has had in its surrounding.
On institution factor grant, focus will be given to institutions which have admitted more students with special needs. The more students with disabilities a university has, the higher the institution factor grant the university receives.
The grant is aimed at assisting universities make their built environment more accessible for all Persons living with disabilities (PWDs).
