Who will defend Kenya's intellectual space?

Kenya: If you go through any project or dissertation written by a Kenyan, in Kenya or elsewhere, what strikes you first is that most of the scholars cited are non-Kenyans, mostly from America and Europe. It does not matter the topic.

The assumption is that ideas from such sources are more credible, and citing them makes you a credible scholar. We love citing such scholars, irrespective of how schooled we are. Given a choice between citing a popular proverb in your community and a scholar you have never met, you will go for the other scholar. Yet context really matters.

It goes beyond books. We still believe that foreign institutions are better than ours even when dubious. No one can question Harvard, Oxford or Waseda in Japan or any of these old and well established universities. But when we get universities that have no physical location, no history, no accreditation, we are putting one of the nation’s greatest resources at risk - our brains.

The success of nations we admire like Singapore has a lot to do with quality of education. It is therefore tragic when we allow our children and even adults to be duped that they have degrees, when the only papers they have are paid for. Many Kenyans, including prominent ones are getting “degrees” from cyberspace. The first casualty of such ‘miseducation’ is your confidence, because you will always know you are missing something. Such “graduates” tend to be harsh when they become bosses and spend more time covering their incompetence than doing what they are supposed to.

The whole organisation suffers. The creative and innovative workers usually suffer the most. Yet innovation and creativity are the DNA of corporate and national success. How did we find ourselves in this situation?

If you do not secure your house, thieves and robbers will attack you. The same applies to Internet systems, they are vulnerable to hackers. We have not secured our intellectual space, which is why dubious universities are invading us. The owners of these institutions most likely have been in Kenya and know that anything foreign is considered superior. They are adept in adding “International” to their institutional names; like Washington International.

Competitive course

Others like Newport (recall?) tried to enter the Kenyan market, failed and rebranded as Janus University. Rarely do they offer courses that demand that you think hard like engineering, medicine, operations research or statistics. Their courses have big names but no content. You are free to name them.

Probably our media, from TV to movies, have made us believe that foreign things are superior and better including fruits that grow locally like pears and oranges. That includes our names. How come every small boy is now either Brian, Ryan or Jayden? We could also be culprits, allowing such institutions into the country by endorsing their certification. For example, do you recall when top leaders in this country were queuing to get dubious PhDs from a foreign university?

Some still call themselves ‘Dr’ and it is in public domain. Once our leaders get such certifications, they serve as endorsements. Has anyone been exposed and lost his job because of having credentials from such institutions? We have come to accept fraud as part of our lives.

Fraud is not just about money; it has invaded our intellectual space. Most recipients of such papers know they are not worth the paper they are written not but hope they will never be caught - very unlikely if they’re in high places. Our job adverts and our policies have encouraged such intellectual fraud. When we ask for masters and PhDs and instead of competence, people will produce the papers but will lack the knowledge and experience.

Let us also be blunt; we are ignorant too despite the Internet. Do we research these institutions or just trust them blindly? We would not be worried if graduates of such institutions worked in mortuaries, the damage would be limited to the dead who may have no recourse. But they affect the living and can be inter-generational. If you are taught by an incompetent teacher, you could pass the dislike of schooling on to your children.

Remember someone can teach or lecture for 40 years, impacting maximum damage to generations of students. If you are an incompetent manager in either the public or private sector, putting down creative and innovative workers will make your firm uncompetitive. Where do we go from here? Our regulators must protect our intellectual space from charlatans and fraudsters.

We should not allow such people to ruin the intellectual potential of the next generation. One simple method is to name and shame. Maybe the much talked about vetting of policeman should be extended to intellectual credentials.

The nature of the intellectual or education industry is that the student or potential student has little knowledge of the market, and is easy to dupe. For example, students are happy to get As in exams but what if the courses they are taking cannot get them jobs or give them confidence to be self-employed?

Dubious institutions

That is why education like medicine needs some optimal regulation. Interestingly, some of the dubious institutions are located in Kenya. They are taking advantage of joblessness and vulnerability of our children and our collective ignorance to fleece us our meagre resources, and blunt our intellectual competitiveness by offering sub-standard education.

Kenya’s intellectual space should not be the new Wild West. I like the way some HR departments are treating this intellectual fraud. They are offering aptitude tests and demanding your KCSE certificate, which is a better predictor of intellectual capability than higher qualifications.

At the very least, the Commission of University Education should have a public list of accredited universities worldwide. A few dubious institutions must not be allowed to dilute Kenya’s reputation as the land of great thinkers from the late Ali Mazrui to Wangari Maathai.