A team of International and local education experts is recommending radical changes in the financing of university education. Regular students, whose courses are subsidized by the Government will be required to pay the market price of the courses, while parallel students may pay less, if the proposals are adapted.

According to the report, 'financing University Education in Kenya', the unit cost of a course should factor in tuition costs, its market demand, and the prevailing starting salaries of its graduates.

The report is seeking to bring some form of parity between regular and module II students. Currently, parallel students pay 70 - 150 percent more than their regular counterparts, depending on the course.

“The new tuition fees should be uniform for all students in a particular university or university college in a given programme and at a given level but should vary by institution, programme and level,” says the report.

Other than increased government funding, the report proposes that public universities turn to parents, students, donors, and instituional and faculty entrepreneurship for more funding. In addition, subsidized food and accommodation provided to regular students will be scrapped, if the proposals are pushed through.

The team, commissioned by the Ministry for Higher Education and the World Bank,  suggests that the changes be effected over a two or three year period, but may start as soon as next year.

Varsities to select own students
The report also recommends private selection of students by universities. This essentially means the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) will be scrapped.

“Responsibilities of JAB would cease upon delegation of student admission authority to individual universities and colleges,” said the report.

JAB has been in charge of determining the criteria of admitting at least 10,000 new students to universities every year.

Last year, however, the board selected 17,000 students following the creation of more than 10 new colleges and campuses.

Currently, there are 150,000 students in the university system compared to about 120,000 two years ago. Parallel degree students constitute nearly half of that number.

The board — together with a team of deans of faculties, principals and vice chancellors of public universities — meets every year to set a cut-off point
for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education qualifiers to be admitted to the colleges

Sh19bn for Universities
Meanwhile, the Government will spend about Sh19 billion on direct funding to University education during this financial year. HELB is expected to disburse Sh3.1 billion for
needy students.

Over the last two years, 13 new university colleges have been opened. This has resulted to an admission of 7,000 more students sponsored by the Government.
In this current academic year, public universities are expected to absorb 20,000 government sponsored students.