Adequately fund varsities to be effective
Mass lay-offs are not the panacea and will bring many universities to their knees.
The latest revelation by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani that the government has no money to send to public universities and university colleges is a step in the wrong direction. Instead, the Treasury has proposed a raft of measures, such as rationalising workers and reviewing fees and charges paid by students.
Statistics show the University of Nairobi’s wage bill is more than Sh8.7 billion while Kenyatta University and Moi University have more than Sh5.6 billion and Sh4.69 billion, respectively. Apparently, last year, the IMF proposed similar measures—to lay off thousands of employees and overhaul management through structural reforms for Kenya’s oldest and biggest universities, UoN, Moi and Kenyatta. IMF observed that public universities had been registering persistent losses for an extended period.
Needless to mention, the proposed reforms by the government would lead to mass lay-offs, redundancies and retrenchment reminiscent of the 1990s’ Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), whereby thousands of civil servants were retrenched. Since 2003, when the national government drastically reduced university capitation, the institutions have been grappling with financial problems.
Sh76.3 billion
Notably, the government only disburses 60 per cent of universities’ recurrent expenditure while the rest is supposed to be financed by the institutions. This financial year, public universities requested Sh102.807 billion but were allocated Sh76.3 billion; in the 2021/2022 fiscal year only Sh76.3 billion was disbursed. Little wonder, then, that university funding is fraught with difficulties. But an attempt by vice-chancellors to increase fees was met with vociferous protests by both students and the public.
The State Department for University Education and the Commission for University Education seems helpless on this grave matter of national importance. Worse, since 2016, when cheating in the KCSE examination was dramatically reduced, many public universities have suffered low student enrolment, especially from Module II (parallel) programme, hence constrained financial flows.
The core business of a university is teaching, research and community service, which boils down to proper financial endowment. Research indicates that the universities’ dismal performance in research, innovation and community service is largely because they are chronically underfunded and understaffed. Consequently, many universities are no longer citadels of learning, innovation and research and rote learning takes precedence, hence disjunction between the skills taught in university and the skills demanded by employers.
Mass lay-offs are not the panacea and will bring many universities to their knees. Low capitation, financial mismanagement, and poor leadership in some universities are to blame for the current financial woes many face. The government should look for alternative funding for them. Comprehensive reforms for public university are long overdue.
Mr Muthama is a business and strategic management lecturer at JKUAT, consultant and author. [email protected].
