The University of Nairobi is leading in the public universities category while Mt Kenya University is ahead in the private category, according to Professor Herman Manyora – a lead consultant with CPS International – who released the findings of the study dubbed “The State of Sciences Training in Kenyan Universities: Make Science Great Again” on Wednesday.
In the top 10 chart, UoN scored 9.8 per cent followed by Kenyatta University (9.7pc), Moi University (8.3pc) and Maseno University (6.7pc). Others in the top 10 list are Egerton University (5.1pc), Catholic University of Eastern Africa (4.1pc), Chuka University (3.5pc), Mount Kenya University (3.3pc), Daystar University (3.2pc) and Maasai Mara University (2.7pc).
He attributed the lack of funding needed to run science courses to the strain universities are facing and concluded that private investors find it more viable to invest in arts programs. “Public universities have more science programs than private ones given the kind of input and resources required to launch such programs,” Manyora said. “Science courses in public universities account for 69.1 percent of all courses offered while arts account for 30.9 per cent. But again, sometimes things we don’t consider sciences have been categorised as such in various universities,” he pointed out.
The private institutions according to the study, account for 34.4 percent of all art courses offered nationwide. Compared to top five public universities, data collected during the research conducted between February and April 2017 indicates private universities offer 7.2 per cent of all science courses in the country compared to 46.1 per cent in public intuitions.
The study, however, notes an increasing investment in science-oriented courses, bringing the cumulative uptake by private universities to 13 percent of all enrollment within the privately owned centres of higher learning. “Government capitation for private universities is nil compared to their public counterparts who get 48 percent government capitation and 5 percent research fund,” Manyora said.
He also noted the recent introduction of State sponsored programs in private universities as an indication of a brighter future ahead saying it will boost revenues for private varsities. In the arts category, UoN, Moi, KU, Egerton and Maseno universities still topped the list. Maseno University also leads in the number of certificate and diploma programs offered which tallied at 34 and 43 respectively during the study.
The University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University of Science and Technology follow in the second position with Egerton and Kenyatta University completing the top five list. On income generation, universities heavily depend on student fees the study indicating a whopping 81 percent of revenues in public universities were generated from fees, the same only accounted for 42 percent of revenues generated by private universities.
Government capitation followed in second place in income generation accounting for 48 percent of all revenues collected by public universities. The third is research grants which account for two and five per cent of revenues in private and public institutions of higher learning respectively.
This article was first published on Capital News.
