Private Universities Protest Govt Plan to Admit All Qualified Students to Public Institutions.
Private universities in Kenya are scrambling to keep qualified students who attained a university entry grade of C+ and above from being admitted to public institutions.
The National Association of Private Universities in Kenya (NAPUK) claims that the government’s plan to admit all qualified students to public universities will harm their institutions and has requested to be included in the placement process.
The group wrote a memorandum to Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, appealing to the Ministry of Education to separate admission from grants and include private universities in the placement process.
They argue that blocking private universities from admitting students who choose to study at their institutions creates a monopoly for public universities, contrary to the provisions of the Competition Act.
While private universities support the government’s decision to allocate funds to students admitted to public universities only, they oppose any policy that excludes them from participating in the placement of students.
Private universities pay the same fees to the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) as public universities and believe that qualified students who applied to either public or private universities should be placed in their respective institutions.
Private universities claim that the ministry’s policy decision to admit all students with a grade of C+ and above to universities reduced their income streams and eliminated parallel programs that were their second source of revenue.
Some private universities were unable to attract students outside the placement service because all candidates with a grade of C+ and above were centrally placed by KUCCPS as government-sponsored students.
The policy decision was made in 2016 to increase access to university for students who attain a grade of C+ and above in KCSE. Since then, private universities argue that the policy has led to an increase in the number of students placed under KUCCPS, aggravating their financial crisis.
The Memorandum to the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms presented by Universities Funding Board (UFB) indicated that the deficit of government sponsorship to public universities rose from Sh9.2 billion in the 2017/2018 Financial Year to Sh27 billion in the 2021/2022 Financial Year.
In the same period, the deficit of government sponsorship to private universities rose from Sh1.2 billion to Sh11.9 billion. Private universities supplement the government’s efforts in providing quality education, and denying them participation in student admission could lead to layoffs and closures.
NAPUK demanded that the Higher Education Loans Board be left open to provide education loans to any student in Kenya and elsewhere. Private universities believe that they provide quality education and are willing to participate in the admission process to keep their institutions afloat.
They urge the government to allow students to choose where they want to study and for the placement process to include private universities to create a competitive environment in the education sector.
