Hard times ahead for varsities as they gear up for reopening

Universities are staring at a backlog that will take years to clear after the government postponed their reopening to January next year.
Last week, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced that contrary to earlier plans, universities, teacher training colleges, and technical and vocational training institutions will only reopen in January as the government intensifies campaign to fight Covid-19.
Prof Magoha explained that based on the assessment of the status of the preparedness of the institutions and in light of the rising numbers of coronavirus infections, it was not feasible to reopen the universities next month.

The impact of this is that graduations, admissions and continuing programmes will be put on hold until next year.

Except for a few cases, most graduations that were planned for this year may not take place because the students will not be able to clear their academic programmes on time.
It is noted that some universities such as Dedan Kimathi, Riara, Egerton, have opted to do virtual graduation.

The University of Nairobi is planning to hold its online graduation on September 25, according to a statement by the vice-chancellor, Prof Stephen Kiama
Admission for freshers will also be put on hold until next year. Normally, the universities admit students joining regular programmes in September. But with the latest development, that has to be put on hold.

That means that high school students who sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams last year will have to wait for nearly two years before gaining admission.
However, a few universities such as Strathmore, which has been conducting online learning, have already done their admissions. Just like continuing students, the new joiners are taking online lessons.

In June, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS) released the list of candidates placed in various universities and TVET institutions.

125,463 candidates

A total of 125,463 candidates out of 689,007 who sat Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams in 2019 qualified for university admission, having obtained grade C+ and above.

Out of the qualifiers, 122,831 were placed in the universities while 2,632 were selected to join TVET institutions based on their preference. At the same time, KUCCPS also placed 88,724 candidates in TVET institutions.

However, this cohort will have to wait for slightly longer before joining the institutions where they have been selected.

Delays in admission affects universities in many ways, including creating backlog in clearing programmes and also has financial implications.

It starves university of revenues that comes through the fees paid by learners. Certainly that is bound to affect the institutions in a great deal, and more so, private universities that rely on fees for their operational costs, including paying staff salaries.

Giving the prevailing condition, universities have resorted to virtual learning. For example, Prof Kiama, says the university is institutionalising online teaching and assessment until the situation improves.

“In view of the current trends of infections and the need to ensure staff and students safety, the University of Nairobi will continue to dispense its services using online platforms.

Online teaching

The online teaching and learning, online admissions, online exams and virtual graduation will continue until such a time when we shall begin to see a decline in number of cases or when the experts will advise that it is safe to resume on campus learning,” he said.
He added: “The Academic Division will issue joining instructions and guidelines for conducting the online orientation for the class of 2020/2021-First Year soon.

The continuing students will also commence the new academic year virtually in September. The Senate is going to deliberate and provide specific dates.”
The vice-chancellor of Daystar University, Prof Laban Ayiro, also says the institution was leveraging on technology to offer learning to students.

However, this remains constrained by logistics such as Internet connectivity, unreliable power supply in many places across the country and some instance, lack of access to the gadgets such as laptop and smartphones.

E-testing

At the institutional level, most universities are struggling to mount training for lecturers on how to conduct e-teaching and e-testing.

According to Prof Ayiro, access to such facilities, including e-learning resources are mostly possible within the universities where there is stable infrastructure.

“Remote teaching and learning posed new challenges to university administrations as it emerges that some students and faculty lack laptops, smartphones, internet, and in some cases electricity which are necessary for eLearning to take place.

Such amenities are guaranteed on campus and create a level ground for everyone,” he says.
The last time the country faced such a situation was after the 1982 coup, where University of Nairobi and then its constituent, Kenyatta University College, were closed for nine months because of the alleged participation of some students in the insurgency.
The closure occasioned a major backlog in admission and took five years to clear.

Even then, that was only achieved through admitting two cohorts of students who had sat ‘A’ level exams in 1985 and 1866. They were both admitted in 1987.

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