Education CS Prof. George Magoha has decried the proliferation of universities in the country. Speaking to Vice Chancellors at the Catholic University of East Africa Magoha posed if the intellectual capabilities in the country have been dragged lower by other people who may seek to impose their won influence yet they don’t know what a university is, “You are the people who know what a university is. And in your honest opinion do you think all those universities claiming to be universities are universities?” He said there were originally fine universities in Kenya, around ten, before a notable increase occurred, and some institutions that weren’t needed are now active.
However, he said the government policy hasn’t been right, “The government policy has always been to pull down the ones that were already at an international level and bring them to the same level with all the others.” CS Magoha said a university isn’t an employment agency to employ next of kin or a political tool. “If you have thirty or forty square kilometres, why are we allowing four or five universities in those domains, are those things universities?” he posed.
He further urged universities to offer relevant courses. He pointed out that universities should have their niches and speciality courses and ask for funding from the government instead of offering the same courses throughout “Can someone tell me why you produce 5,000 economists in the country and then they go and join the waiting list for jobs?” He said there are so many programmes that students haven’t applied to pursue.