Education CS Fred Matiang’i: Varsities must promote skills, integrity

Education CS Fred Matiang’i with University of Nairobi Chancellor Dr Vijoo Rattansi during the 56th graduation ceremony yesterday. Universities must ensure their graduates are skills oriented, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has said. (PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/ STANDARD)

Universities must ensure their graduates are skills oriented, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has said.

Matiang'i said Kenya has the capacity to start exporting skills by 2030 and no institution should compromise the quality of human resources for the sake of producing large numbers of graduates.

The CS was speaking yesterday during the University of Nairobi's 56th graduation ceremony, where 8,505 graduands were conferred with degrees and awarded diplomas.

Matiang'i said rapid expansion of education infrastructure has ensured no student is denied the opportunity to join a university due to lack of space and now focus should shift to the quality of graduates, integrity and discipline.

He said personal discipline and integrity as virtues have become very elusive in many learning institutions.

"It is a challenge that the ministry is taking head on. We are going to start mentoring students on integrity and discipline right from the primary school level to the university," Matiang'i said.

Prof Peter Mbithi, the UoN Vice Chancellor said that in a bid to improve quality of graduates, the institution's research fund currently stands at Sh4.5 billion.

This is apart from the university participating in other skills programmes such as the Nairobi Innovation Week and Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

"The university has therefore contributed immensely to innovation, entrepreneurship and extension services to accelerate our country's industrialisation," Prof Mbithi said.

University Chancellor Dr Vijoo Rattansi said institutions should nurture ideas into new and sustainable enterprises that lend themselves to current and emerging societal needs.

"This will provide economic opportunities to the youth, absorb the many educated graduates that our universities are producing and go a long way in curing the problem of unemployment," she said.

Matiang'i said he had directed all public and private universities to implement the student bio-metric identification and registration system and subsequently connect to the national population database as a way of boosting security.