Universities to Sack Lecturers Teaching Rejected courses; CUE
The government has been cautioned not to fund degree programmes that are unable to draw in sufficient enrollment by the body that regulates universities.
The chairman of the Commission for Universities (CUE), Chacha Nyaigoti, declared that instructors of these courses must now look for work elsewhere.
Numerous degree programmes, according to Prof. Chacha, lack student enthusiasm, making it difficult to devote resources to them.
He emphasised the expense of teaching a small class size, pointing out that each course consists of several units taught by highly paid, trained university staff members.
He was reacting to a story in The Standard regarding courses in the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) 2022 KCSE placement that drew few pupils.
Only one student was enrolled in each of the 18 degree programmes, according to the disturbing information. There were no more than 10 students enrolled in each of the remaining 104 academic programmes.
Among the bachelor of science courses available were those in food security, horticulture, soil science, forestry, dryland agriculture, biological sciences, geophysics and mineralogy, aquaculture and fisheries technology, and environmental chemistry.
Only one student received a national ranking in any of the following courses: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, Bachelor of Science Networks and Communication Systems, Bachelor of Industrial Technology, Water Resource and Environmental Management, Environmental Resource Management, Library and Knowledge Management, and Bachelor of Arts Chaplaincy.
According to Chacha, some academic programmes are only considered to be course units. The nature of the programmes provided at different universities is significantly influenced by the character of the institution, market forces, the availability of resources, the supervision of professional organisations, and the availability of suitable space, facilities, and faculty, among other factors.
Also Read:Â List of Courses Scrapped By University Of Nairobi 2023
According to Chacha, the fact that nearly 200 courses had less than 10 students is a wake-up call for all parties involved in higher education.
Professor Chacha emphasised the significance of raising general knowledge of and reexamining the design of degree programmes inside educational institutions. He emphasised that this guidance had been repeatedly given to universities and is now becoming a reality.
The lecturer wanted to know how a degree in biblical studies was taught. He thought of it as a supplementary subject that may be included as a theology course unit.
He also inquired about the topics covered by degrees like the Bachelor of Sociology and Technology and the Bachelor of Agriculture with Information Technology.
Some of these, according to Chacha, are too specialised and may be taught as course modules as part of a broader academic programme. He claimed that since each course would need a sizable number of paid instructors, it would be expensive to teach these courses, which only attracted less than ten students.
The justification for some university courses that had an excess of faculty but a shortage of students was questioned by KUCCPS Chief Executive Mercy Wahome last week in Naivasha during a media sensitization workshop on the new funding model.
According to Dr. Wahome, the new funding formula might compel universities to reexamine the programmes’ financial viability. The universities may have had good intentions when they created their academic programmes, according to Chacha, but they need to go back to the drawing board.
He claimed that some courses have such a narrow focus that it takes a lot of work for students to explain how comprehensive their degree programmes are when applying for jobs abroad.
It has become clear that private universities may reassign one-sixth of their staff as a result of the new funding formula.
Universities to Sack Lecturers Teaching Rejected courses; CUE
