United States varsity joins private sector to bring affordable E-learning

By Kilema Mwiria

NAIROBI, KENYA: Last Friday, the management of an American higher education institution that is establishing itself in Kenya invited me to a launch of an E-learning educational initiative. California Miramar University (CMU) is partnering with local technology companies to make e-learning accessible and affordable to Kenyan students. The partnering companies are Rapid Communications and tablet manufactures (Lenovo, Samsung, and Huawei) and Safaricom for internet accessibly.

 Technology is made easily available to students by bundling courses, a tablet and internet connectivity and a course for relatively low tuition. Those students who cannot afford the tablet will benefit from a programme agreed upon with finance companies for them to purchase the tablet at a low interest student loan. As a result, CMU has put together very modern educational resources at the finger tips of many needy Kenyan students. The university, through its Learning Center in Nairobi will provide local support services to its E-learning students in Kenya and the region. 

The e-learning curriculum of CMU under this initiative will also target trade skills courses that can add to previously achieved qualifications while providing a single subject certificate. This certificate should assist its recipients in acquiring more knowledge and information in particular fields and subjects. Students need no qualifications in taking up these courses, although at the end of it they will have gained certificates which can help them get better jobs and promotion.One hopes that this plan, which is now only available to diploma level students, should be extended to degree level students once its success is clear. Among other things, CMU could introduce courses to improve personal techniques on fields such as interpersonal, presentation and interview skills. These courses build learner’s confidence level and improve interaction with people, irrespective of whether they are your clients or work mates.

This is a pioneering move that brings a three-way dimensional partnership between an education institution and technological innovation backed by strong financial leaders of the continent.

The initiative could not have come at a better time for Government, which is welcoming private education partnerships to address the access, equity, quality and financing needs of our higher education sector in response to the human resource needs for the achievement of Vision 2030. It demystifies computer technology as a preserve of only those students from well off families given that CMU tuition charges for it are affordable. The strategy is also in keeping with the Jubilee government’s free laptop for primary schools and the secondary school computer programmes to bridge the digital gap between Kenya and the developed world.

As is true of most other African countries, the level of strategic aggressiveness in Kenya is higher than the level of organisation and management capabilities. This leads to sub-optimisation of our strategic core competency. This mismatch can only be corrected through training and skills development targeting specific courses for specific skills development that addresses relevant organisational and individual needs. This capacity building is required for both the private and public sectors.

All countries, whether developed or developing, are striving towards getting their economies to become knowledge-based. Kenya cannot be an exception! In fact, given the way cost of living is rising by the day and where it is now a fight between daily survival on one hand and the expenditures on so-called luxurious (such as costly higher education) on the other, more so in the developing world, we have to promote education that is cost effective and affordable.

Although for the poor such investment presents a catch 22 situation, we have no option as without such education, we cannot breach our human capacity gap. This CMU-led project will bring the benefit of E-learning and a cost effective solution of developing skill sets that enable Kenyans to attain the benefits of higher education and thereby allowing them to enhance their capacity and quality of life.