State doubles university funding to Sh82 billion
Mabel Keya - Shikuku and Erastus Gichohi-KNA
The Government has in the last two years doubled funding to local universities to over Sh82 billion budgeted through the new funding model.
Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Migos Ogamba has said the differentiated unit cost (DUC) prioritizes a student-centred funding mechanism and is meant to ensure that no needy student misses out on higher education.
He said the model has resulted in additional funding flow to institutions of higher learning with a view to easing access to education for an increased number of students who have been enrolled in local public and private tertiary institutions.
CS Ogamba, in a speech read on his behalf by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the State Department for Higher Education and Research in Ministry of Education Dr. Beatrice Muganda Inyangala during the second Biennial Conference on the financing of universities in Naivasha, said the government require Sh45.85 billion to finance the education of 246,391 students who completed their secondary education last year and who will be joining tertiary institutions starting the 2025/26 financial year.
It is the largest number ever who qualified to join university by scoring the aggregate of C+ (plus) and above. The conference is aimed at coming up with measures to streamline the financing of the higher education institutions in Kenya.
The CS said the burden facing the education sector is how to adequately fund the said 246,391 candidates of the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Examination who qualified to join university so that no needy student misses out on the university education.
He noted that to complete their entire four-year education, over Sh100 billion would be required to finance them, adding that there's a need to provide necessary interventions on how such a financially driven initiative will be realized.
“About 45,258 more candidates scored C+ (plus) and above compared with the 2023 KCSE cohort.
"We therefore must together explore mechanisms of ensuring that all the qualifiers are admitted, funded and settled in our various universities as we have done previously, especially given the ever-dwindling Government resource envelope, and considering that the lion’s share of our country’s total annual budget is spent on education,” Ogamba stated.
In the same breath, the CS assured the students, their guardians and parents that the Ministry is holding all the necessary consultations within government before advising on the opening of the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) portal for the 2024 KCSE candidates to start selecting their preferred courses of study in colleges and universities.
“All students, parents and guardians should remain assured that they will be admitted to universities and colleges of their choice in line with the set deadlines of respective institutions,” he said.
He beseeched all the stakeholders in the education sector to work together to define the optimal number of qualifiers that the government can afford to financially support and allow the rest of the students who can afford to seek alternative funding and loans for their programmes.
Ogamba advised the stakeholders to examine various funding options and explore both their short-term and long-term effects on university finances, student access, and academic quality.
“I urge participants to explore innovative financing strategies that can complement government funding, including generation of alternative funding sources such as public-private partnerships, endowments, and alumni contributions, all of which hold great potential to provide sustainable financial support for our institutions,” he advised.
The CS further urged them to focus on equity and inclusion by discussing ways to ensure equitable access to higher education, particularly for marginalized groups and students from disadvantaged backgrounds and create a system that not only provides opportunities for all but also fosters an environment where every student has the support they need to succeed.
Though the implementation of the new funding model has been suspended to allow pending court of appeal cases, the government is banking on a positive resolution by the courts to address the teething issues facing the education sector including mounting debts.
The University Fund Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Geoffrey Monari had raised fears that the suspension of the new funding model risks raising universities public debts as court cases drag on.
Monari said the new legal challenge at the court of appeal has left uncertainty in lowering debts which has crippled universities for years.
He said the only solution to addressing and reducing increased debts is to allow the implementation of the new model which unburdens universities' financial support to students.