Machogu Ask Universities To Reinvent Higher Education.
Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu has encouraged universities to continually reinvent themselves to provide the intellectual foundation and satisfy the needs of the twenty-first century.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Higher Education and Research PS, Beatrice Inyangala, at the 11th Graduation Ceremony of Kisii University, Machogu stated that the contemporary skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking will inspire students to produce much-needed innovations.
The CS emphasized that universities can only achieve reinvention if they retain rigorous academic standards and offer relevant high-quality programs.
He challenged colleges and universities to educate graduates with the credentials and soft skills they need to flourish not only as employees, but also as job creators, on the job market.
Machogu also emphasized the necessity for universities to build links with companies through possibilities for work-integrated learning and tactics that foster partnerships with industry, enterprises, and the community.
Moreover, he urged Kisii University to continue exploring the breadth and depth of potential given by digital technology for developing and delivering its programs, so as to enrich the content and extend cost-effective access to it.
Regarding the topic of sustainable university funding, Machogu remarked that it has become a global concern as governments attempt to give access to quality and relevant training for a growing population.
“Due to the expansion in the university sector witnessed in the last ten years, government support has been inadequate and this has forced universities to operate under a very tight budget,” he said.
The CS urged university management boards to investigate industrial and institutional collaborations, public-private partnerships, and other resource mobilization techniques as a means of supplementing government capitation with additional money.
He noted that the government invests extensively in university and other research institutes’ research with the assumption that innovation and commercialization of research outputs will create an income stream for the universities.
Machogu urged universities to streamline their curricula and create a specialization in areas where they have a comparative advantage in order to progressively persuade the government to offer performance-based funding for the development of emerging centers of excellence inside higher education institutions.
The CS urged the 3,000 graduates to go out into the world and actively seek solutions to the numerous problems plaguing the country and the world today.
Dr. Bob Ndubi, chancellor of Kisii University, informed the audience that the institution has maintained a stable foundation and infrastructure from its establishment and will continue to do so in the future.
Dr. Ndubi stated that despite obstacles such as capitation, lack of qualified personnel, governance concerns, and Covid-19, the institution has achieved significant progress.
Even while they continue to comply with Commission on University Education (CUE) rules on quality control and government instructions on university restructuring, the autonomy and academic independence of public universities are under attack, according to the Chancellor.
Among the activities performed by Kisii University, he highlighted continued training and recruiting of skilled academic personnel, as well as aggressive benchmarking with local and worldwide universities.
“We are very proud of the graduates we have produced so far. The demand for our graduates in Medicine, Law and Business courses has been very encouraging, an assurance for those graduating today that you have a good quality degree and the job market is waiting for you,” he added.
Machogu Ask Universities To Reinvent Higher Education.
