A new funding model for higher education proposed by President William Ruto has it that the cash-strapped public universities should admit students based on the government’s ability to pay for them and not their performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
Such a move would, however, be disastrous. It will narrow down higher learning, with fewer university and college students benefiting from sponsorship. Passing exams is still the fairest means to determine who gets that loan.
New Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu sparked controversy just days into office when he declared that the government would stop funding public universities. The dust only settled after he clarified that he had been quoted out of context and that he was encouraging the institutions to seek alternative sources of funding instead of solely relying on the Exchequer.
This is a sensitive matter. Education is costly, but it is vital as the country needs high-level manpower. Even with dwindling resources, education is too important to be ignored. The only challenge is to maximise resources for the best returns. There are several funding options. One is appointing fundraising managers with innovative ways of raising money.
Parallel programmes
While the government cannot adequately fund the education of all the students, a return to the mindless expansions of some years back, where universities seemed to care more about buying land and buildings instead of their core business of teaching and research, must not be allowed.
Enabling universities to mint money from parallel programmes’ students while locking out those who qualify but cannot afford to pay would be unfair to these deserving Kenyans.
Philanthropy is a potential source of funding for education. The universities also need to monetise their research, other expertise and services to help bridge the funding shortfall. This will not be easy but something must be done to prevent the cash-strapped institutions from grinding to a halt.
