Layoffs point to more problems in varsities

The laying off of 150 lecturers by Kenya Methodist University (Kemu) and the closure of some of its campuses should signal the inherent dangers of aggressive expansion by colleges.

Although Kemu has attributed the redundancies to the harsh economic environment, it is common knowledge that most universities have over extended themselves by hiring too many lecturers in their rush to enroll more students.

Many universities have rashly put up or purchased buildings to accommodate new lecture halls.

This is not to downplay Kemu’s reasons for declaring these redundancies.

A recent government audit on the management of universities uncovered major irregularities in operations of private and public colleges. It was noted that some universities had mounted degree programmes even though it was evident that they were ill-equipped to offer some courses.

In many instances, universities awarded degrees to students who had not attained the requisite credit hours, while in some cases learners received academic certificates even though some of their marks were missing.

The Ministry of Education must implement some recommendations of the audit report, especially those calling for down scaling of university programmes in colleges that have demonstrated no capacity to run these courses.

And so while the staff layoff at Kemu may not be linked to these failures, it must signal that the time to streamline higher education, is now.