The Ruto government has announced measures towards funding of public universities and colleges.
The government has announced that it will no longer fund public universities and colleges.
Speaking at Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri County on Saturday, November 5, 2022, Education Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said universities must find alternative ways to generate revenue.
“I am going to visit all universities in Kenya because our universities are facing funding challenges especially those who are complaining about funding,” Machogu said.
“We encourage them to generate their own revenue because the former auditor cannot continue to fund more now because education in Kenya is 25.9 percent, so we have to find other ways to generate revenue for universities and look at other revenue schemes.” he said.
Public universities are currently facing a financial crisis and owe a combined debt of Sh56.1 billion to government agencies and pension plans by June 30, 2022.
This includes money owed to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), pension schemes, part-time teachers, Saccos, National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and loan waivers, according to University Foundation CEO Geoffrey Monary.
“Currently, our universities are facing a severe financial crisis. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are still there,” said Monari in a press conference on Friday, October 28.
Similarly, he said 100 percent pass for students with C+ and above to enter the university has increase financial constraints.
Monari explained that students placed in universities by the Central Placement Service of Kenya Universities and Colleges (Kuccps) under the Differential Unit Cost (DUC) are expected to receive up to 80 percent of the unit cost from the government.
However, he said the funding shortfall was 66 percent shared in public universities in the 2017/18 financial year and reduced from 44 percent in 2017 to 48.11 percent and 21.94 percent for private universities by 2021/22.
Also, the current budget for government sponsored students (GSS) is about Sh47.4 billion, of which Sh3.4 billion for 78,443 students placed in private universities and Sh44 billion for 356,188 students in public universities.
“The expected number of GSS graduates is 92,950 in FY 2018, at the current rate of 48.1 percent, accounting for a budget of approximately 12.6 billion.
Monari also explained that the total number of government funded students in public and private universities is 434,631 students in DUC with a demand of Ksh87.3 billion but the available budget is 47.4 billion.
“There is a budget deficit of Ksh39.9 billion. With 92,950 students and graduates expected to graduate in 2021/22, sh.12.6 billion will be released for incoming students,” he said.
For the cohort of 2022, the funding demand of 145,145 students is Ksh32.7 billion and available funding is Ksh12.6 billion.
“The entering cohort is larger than the graduating class, which is 52,195 students, so the need for funding is expected to increase,” said Monari.
He said that it is necessary to study the financing of universities in the country and restore its status as it was a few years ago.
