How Did Universities Get Here?
Kenya’s public universities are facing a full-blown crisis. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has confirmed that the government can no longer afford to fund university education, citing a dire financial crunch. The result? Massive job cuts, closure of satellite campuses, and a controversial new funding model that could shut the door on thousands of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
What was once a thriving academic ecosystem is now crippled by years of underfunding, unpaid salaries, bloated student populations, and ballooning debts. “The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with universities, is expected to develop a comprehensive reform strategy that will ensure financial sustainability within public universities,” said Mbadi. These reforms include drastic measures: restructuring institutions to reduce administrative costs, cutting staff, outsourcing non-core services, and selling off satellite campuses to clear debts.
What’s the Government’s Solution?
Mbadi made it clear that the days of state-funded university education are over. “For a long time, we have been living a lie in the sense that we give our children to the universities to educate for free without funding. We have to be realistic and ask ourselves, do we continue living that lie or can we do differently?” he said.
Some institutions are reportedly owed more than Ksh.4 billion, debt accrued since 2016, as they educated students without sufficient funding. The government is now banking on a new funding model, which shifts financial responsibility to parents. Mbadi defended the plan, stating, “This new model that was being resisted so furiously needs to be supported to succeed… Let us not cheat ourselves as a country that we can finance fully and make university education free.”
Critics argue the government is abandoning its duty to provide affordable education. Many fear the reforms will shut out bright students from low-income families and further damage the already weakened public university system. Once considered engines of innovation and social mobility, these institutions now risk becoming shadows of their former selves due to what stakeholders describe as neglect and a lack of political commitment.
By Lucky Anyanje