Report finds STEM courses cost more than humanities in universities
Equip Africa College of Medical and Health Sciences, lecturer in Department of public Health Michael Otieno (left) take students through microscope skills at the Kitale campus.
What you need to know:
- In Kenya, most students pursue business related courses and those offered by the humanities departments.
- However, more students seemed to be attracted to STEM subjects than business and humanities degree courses.
Bachelor of dentistry, medicine and veterinary medicine are the most expensive university degree programmes offered in local public universities, a new report has shown.
According to data provided by the public universities vice chancellors’ committee, it costs universities an average of Sh720,000 annually to train each student pursuing a dentistry clinical degree programme.
Bachelor of science, clinical medicine costs an average of Sh648,000 per student while a Bachelor of science, veterinary medicine course costs universities a minimum of Sh576,0000 annually.
Pharmacy, architecture, engineering, surveying, computing, engineering systems and management and nursing are also among the most expensive courses which students pursue in universities. Generally, it costs universities more than Sh400,000 to offer all science courses per student in a year.
Additionally, it costs an average of Sh516,000 annually to train a single student to pursue a degree in pharmacy in public universities and Sh468,000 to pursue an architecture programme.
Universities also say students train for engineering degree programmes at an average cost of Sh432,000 while those pursuing surveying, computing, engineering systems, management and nursing cost the government and students Sh408,000 every year.
The training costs account for the equipment, laboratory tests, chemicals and numerous other costs that come with teaching the subjects.
The costs are higher for students who choose to pursue postgraduate programmes in the science fields.
The courses, which are classified under science, technology, engineering and mathematics, are considered the most prestigious and competitive courses offered by public universities, and they promise better career prospects upon graduation.
In Kenya, most students pursue business related courses and those offered by the humanities departments. However, in the last Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (Kuccps) admission, more students seemed to be attracted to STEM subjects than business and humanities degree courses.
Humanities courses
During the 2020/2021 academic year, university admission saw a total of 66,661 students gain admission to various universities to study STEM courses. Only 56,170 students were placed to pursue arts and humanities courses.
Bachelor of medicine and surgery offered at the University of Nairobi remains the most competitive course in public universities.
Other universities that offer these highly competitive courses include Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, Moi University, Technical University of Kenya and Egerton University.
In the year’s placement, University of Nairobi attracted most of the students in the STEM subjects.
Vice chancellors in public universities are pushing for adoption of a university funding model that will see government fund students based on the programmes they pursue.
They say that due to the high cost of training students pursuing science courses, universities have been incurring huge debts.
They also say that lecturers teaching the science subjects receive an equal salary with those teaching humanities courses despite the technical knowhow involved in teaching STEM subjects.
The vice chancellors in 2016 presented to the Ministry of Education a report on the Differentiated Unit Costs (DUC) for all programmes offered in the public university system. However, the model has never been fully implemented.
Equip Africa College of Medical and Health Sciences, lecturer in Department of public Health Michael Otieno (left) take students through a lesson at the Kitale campus.
The government funds the highest percentage of the total cost of the degree programmes, by up to 80 per cent, while students are left to pay the balance.
The chairman of the Vice Chancellors’ Committee chair, Prof Geoffrey Muluvi, said the cost of training students in science subjects is different from the cost of training students studying arts and humanities degree programmes.
Due to lack of a proper funding formula, most universities offering science, technology and mathematics courses have been pushed into huge debts.
“There has been an attempt to apply DUC in the funding of universities but this always falls far short of the envisaged application of the formula as the application is only partial as the funds are grossly inadequate,” he said.
He said that the proposal, once adopted, will see government fund students based on the numbers a university has and the nature of the programmes the students are pursuing.
“The adoption of the DUC funding formula will provide and rationalise the manner of funding universities’ recurrent expenditure.”
The government funds public universities through grants to students normally as a percentage of the total fees required for a particular programme to study.
Cheapest degree programmes
“It is proposed that funding of universities should be rationalised and be based on an average student unit costs or a factor to be decided by the universities funding board in consultation with other stakeholders,” he said.
The VCs are proposing the funding of public universities by the government be done through grants to students it would sponsor to study in the universities.
Further, a proposal to increase public university tuition fees from Sh16,000 to Sh48,000has been tabled in Parliament.
University students last month (December) staged protests across various universities opposing the planned increase.
Other courses such as Bachelor of science, built environment and architectural studies, agriculture, health and medicine sciences, pre-dentistry, engineering management, biomedical sciences, pre-medicine, design and environment degrees cost between Sh342,000 and Sh384,000 per student annually.
Basic sciences, mathematics and geography cost universities Sh324,000 and Sh306,000 to offer them.
To study for a Bachelor’s degree in law, universities charge Sh264,000 while to study media, visual and performing arts, library and information science and hospitality universities charge an average Sh288,000 per student each year.
Among the cheapest degree programmes offered by universities are business and economics, applied social science and language studies, social sciences and humanity courses. The degree programmes cater for the majority of students joining public universities.
Humanities degrees are the cheapest at Sh144,000 followed by social sciences programmes at Sh180,000 while applied social sciences and language studies cost Sh216,000. Business and economic degree programmes are charged an average of Sh240, 000 annually.
