Why quality of university education in Kenya is at stake

Most universities in Kenya have incorporated a program called tri-semester program. This is a program in which one studies the entire course throughout from the beginning to the end without having any long holiday. This therefore means that courses which were being offered for four years are now being offered for three years while the ones for six years are now being offered for five years,. Universities in Kenya which has incorporated this program in certain course include: Zetech University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenyatta University, Methodist University, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Chuka University among others

This decision had been made by the Kenyan universities due to the pressure from students who wanted to enroll in to those universities. For them therefore, most students must complete fast and allow for more people to get in. This in the near future can really compromise the quality offered by them.

The contents that students have to read in these various courses are always too much that necessitates for going for a long holiday for purposes of survival. This is because even the psychologists have advised people to always rest. When too much content is done within a very short period of time, it always results to information overload that slows down the rate of thinking and the rate of understanding.

The program has its own benefits. The benefits include: students completing the university level very fast and then join the job market, it eliminates the chances of forgetting a key concept that might be required in future and it also reduces chances of idling because not all who might go home will find something meaningful to do.

But all in all, the observable disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Students who have passes through the system most are generally weak. This is because the only thing they focus on is to complete the course and go home but this is not the purpose for which university level was started. University level in most cases empowers people with the requisite skill that they need to be resourceful people in life.

The common term, being half baked, nowadays being used in the world of employment is always as a result of this system. Most employers have in the past complained about the qualifications of such kind of people. This is because most are always loaded with theory rather than the practical skill. For instance, you can find a journalist who has successfully completed the course but handling the professional camera is a major problem for them.

This system also denies students a chance to interact with the outside world. It makes them to believe that forever they will remain students. Yet interaction with the outside world is very important as it prepares one the reality of issues outside there.

If you interact with most students who have passed through this system, you will realize that they have both a good and a bad story to tell depending on the seriousness they had during the study. For those who were quite serious might say that the system was good as compared to those who were less serious.

It is my humble request that the Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Commission of Universities Education in Kenya, should design a way of restoring sanity back to the Kenyan universities. They need to design a way that quality is achieved in both the private and public universities. Or revamp the old system which stated that you study for two semesters and then proceed for a long holiday.