5.1 The higher education system
5.1.1 History and development of the higher education system
Higher education in Kenya, like in most other African countries, is a recent phenomenon spanning back to just a few decades but which has undergone several developments and challenges. The onset of higher education in Kenya can be traced back to 1956 when the Royal Technical College was established in Nairobi. In 1963,
it became the University College, Nairobi as part of the University of East Africa and offered degrees of the University of London till 1966. In 1970 the University of East Africa was dissolved and the three East African countries (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) each set up their own national universities (Mwiria et. al, 2007; Sifuna, 2009). In Kenya, an Act of Parliament created the University of Nairobi in 1970 (Republic of Kenya, 1984:12). During these first years after independence the main goal of the university was to develop manpower and expertise to take over from the colonial government and engage in national development (Court, 1974).
Nationalism also played an important role as most newly independent states wanted to have a university of their own (Mwiria & Nyukuri, 1992).
As years went by, the demand for university education escalated resulting into the need to create more universities. As a result of this, in addition to University of Nairobi, Moi University was established 1984 as the second university in Kenya followed by Kenyatta University in 1985, Egerton University in 1987, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 1994, Maseno University in 2000 and the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in 2007 (Sifuna, 2009).
Apart from Moi University which was established as a fully-fledged university, the others developed from being constituent colleges of other public universities. By 2013, there were 22 public universities, 9 public university constituent colleges, 17 chartered private universities, and 12 private universities with letters of interim authority. They had a student enrolment of about 324,000 students (Commission for University Education, 2014). There was an increase in students’ enrolment by 21.3 percent just between 2011 and 2013 showing the continuing growing demand for higher education.
Kenya, like many African countries regarded the establishment of local universities as a major part of the post-colonial national development project. The new universities were to help the new nations build up their capacity to manage and develop their resources, alleviate the poverty of the majority of their people, and
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close the gap between them and the developed world. The universities were seen as avenues for indigenous knowledge production, local production of expertise for the professions and for the industry. They also had an inherent meaning to national sovereignty and prestige with their key mandates focused on national purposes (Jowi, 2003; Mwiria, 2003; Sifuna, 2009).
Kenya’s first National Development Plan 1964-1970 attached significant political and economic importance to promoting higher education and made recommendations for substantial funding. Consequently, there was focus on expansion of higher education opportunities to promote economic and social development as was earlier affirmed by the Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965 (Republic of Kenya, 1965). Due to these cardinal national obligations attached to higher education, the making of modern day Kenya’s higher education was therefore largely a function of the government. The government therefore had a general consensus concerning the role of the university in society. The Government of Kenya Report on the Establishment of a Second University in Kenya (Republic of Kenya, 1981) asserts on the role of the university that
“A university must be viewed as a place where intellectualism is cultivated, a place where training of rational men and women of good character, with creative minds and strong convictions, as well as critical reasoning abilities, is pursued, and an institution where the general culture of human society including ideas concerning the world, the universe and man, are developed, promoted, and radiated. It must also pay attention to those virtues which make claim on the intellectual life of society and cultivate public awareness of its role in society. It should give the individual student a clear and conscious view of his own opinions and eloquence in expressing them. In summary then, an educated person coming out of a university should be one who has mastered specialized skills and who also seeks to know the significance of what he does. He should not only know how to make a better living but also know how to lead a better life” (Republic of Kenya, 1981:32).
According to the government of Kenya, the main objective of the university was - and still is - to serve the public interest and national development initiatives. It was to achieve these by pursuing excellence in teaching, research and scholarship and thus to produce well informed, practical and holistic graduates with skills and expertise to function in the development process of the nation both in urban and rural settings and also acquire a critical mind, problem solving skills, professional values, right attitudes and be responsive to the needs of others (Republic of Kenya, 1981; Sifuna, 2009; Nyangau, 2014).
Following this initial stage of the development university, the development of higher education in Kenya has been through two other main phases (Republic of Kenya, 2007). The second phase was that of crisis characterised by politicization, strong state control and stifling of development and academic freedom in the universities. It was also marked by hard economic times and implementation of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). This period was characterised by major policy changes and expansion in the higher education sector. One of the main changes was the introduction of fees payable by students and increase of access to the system. This was the period covering the 1980s and 1990s. The third and current phase has been characterised by renewal and revitalization of the higher education sector. Main developments have included increasing democratization, major reforms in governance, diversification of programmes and a continued expansion of the sector.
It is pegged on the acceleration of the pace of reforms and the search for appropriate models and strategies for the development of the sector (Jowi, 2003; Sifuna, 2009;
Republic of Kenya, 2007).