Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha on Monday dismissed vice-chancellors of public universities who are opposed to the merging of their institutions in the wake of financial crises.
Prof Magoha, while addressing media practitioners in Nairobi, insisted that it is the quality of education coming out of the universities that matters and not the number of institutions.
“I was given instructions by President Kenyatta after my appointment that no more new universities. We must bring sanity in the university education sector,” Prof Magoha told the meeting.
MERGER PLAN
Last month, Prof Magoha asked the Vice-chancellors to come up with a merger plan but in their proposal, they rejected the idea, saying it not a priority.
In a 60-page document submitted to Prof Magoha, the vice-chancellors of 31 public universities instead proposed that institutions to be increased to 100, saying that by 2030, close to one million students will be joining universities.
But Prof Magoha insisted that despite the Constitution providing that each county should have a university, it is not clear when that should be done, adding that it could be even after 100 years.
ADMIN POSTS
The Cabinet secretary also hit out at universities that have created too many administrative positions which he said are serving no purpose.
He lauded Dedan Kimathi University of Technology which he said has only one deputy vice-chancellor while some universities have up to four DVCs.
Prof Magoha also cited Oxford University which has about 38 colleges with one vice-chancellor yet it is a top university in the World.
