Govt to Decided on University Fee Hike
Dr. Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, the Principal Secretary in the State Department for Higher Education and Research, has stated that the Kenyan government has not yet made any decisions regarding the proposed increase in tuition fees for public universities.
The Presidential working Party on Education Reforms has received input from stakeholders regarding the proposed fee increase and is currently finalizing its report.
The report will be presented to President William Ruto this month, and he will provide guidance to the Ministry of Education based on the recommendations.
Last month, universities proposed increasing fees from Sh.16,000 to Sh.48,000 for new government-sponsored students starting in September 2023 to address the financial challenges facing the institutions.
However, this proposal was met with resistance from stakeholders who believed that higher education would be inaccessible to ordinary Kenyan children if the fees were raised.
Dr. Inyangala encouraged public universities to find homegrown solutions to funding challenges in order to provide quality education to citizens.
She called on university authorities to be innovative and resourceful and use locally available resources while seeking funding from donors. According to her, no government can fund higher education alone, and partnerships with other sectors are necessary.
Inyangala emphasized the importance of producing graduates who are competent, not just for Kenya’s development, but also for global development.
The government is investing heavily in the education sector to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and resources are available to provide quality education to all, she said.
Inyangala called for a rethinking of education approaches to ensure that quality assurance systems in higher education institutions are agile and adaptable to the changing needs of the labor market and society.
She stated that quality education encompasses input, process, and output in all aspects of core educational activities, and called for concerted efforts to ensure quality in academic program delivery, assessment, and examination.
As of the start of the 2021/22 academic year, 562,000 students were enrolled in Kenyan universities. Public universities rely primarily on government subsidies to operate, but the government’s current capitation covers only 57% of students, far below the target of 80%.
The National Treasury allocated only Sh.80 billion for higher education this financial year, while universities requested Sh.180 billion to meet their budget plans.
Govt to Decided on University Fee Hike
