Civil service reforms delay higher education projects

Kenya’s higher education sector is feeling the pinch of a new government policy to temporarily freeze employment and appointments in state bodies.

The government is undertaking far-reaching reforms of state corporations and government departments that will see some merged and others scrapped, as it seeks to stem duplication and slash a rising wage bill and running costs in public institutions.

A report on how to reform the agencies was recently handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta by a taskforce appointed five months ago. On 22 November, the president directed that government ministries suspend recruitment, adjustment of salaries and allowances and the reclassification and creation of new state corporations.

At least 70 parastatals face a shake-up under the proposed reforms. State corporations are to be slashed from the current 262 to 187. The government has cast its eyes on trimming the current workforce of 119,689 employees and an annual wage bill of over US$1.5 billion.

Higher education affected

The developments have hit parastatals and public institutions in the education sector – mainly the new Commission for University Education, or CUE, which is entering its sixth month without commissioners.

Public universities are also said to be affected by the freeze on appointments and recruitment.

Delays in appointing CUE bosses have stalled the roll out of a crucial phase of reforms introduced through the Universities Act 2012, which was enacted last January and is aimed at streamlining and improving the management of university affairs.

The act created CUE, which will regulate both public and private universities, to replace the now defunct Commission for Higher Education, which regulated only the public sector.

A team appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology to recruit five commissioners is said to have completed the job in August. The ministry had also re-advertised the job of chair of the CUE board after an earlier process failed to get the right candidate.

It is not clear when the government will lift the freeze on new appointments but sources said it was likely to continue into the new year.

“The commission has run for five months without commissioners and most of the programmes are suffering,” said a senior official at CUE who did not wish to be named. “We can only hope that the freeze will be lifted soon so that things can start moving.”

CUE was recently hit by a row over hiring overage staff. Newspapers reported that workers at CUE had expressed concern to Deputy President William Ruto over the appointment of four commission secretaries, who served under the defunct commission and were past retirement age.

Draft regulations

CUE has published draft regulations and standards meant to operationalise the Universities Act. The rules are currently being scrutinised by education and other stakeholders.

Among other things, public universities – previously governed by individual acts of parliament – will be brought under the same law as private institutions. The guidelines make null and void all existing charters and letters of interim authority, which were previously required by institutions before they could operate.

The guidelines also provide for restructuring of the Joint Admissions Board, or JAB, which selects students for state-funded programmes.

The regulations will create a new body called the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, which will select students for both public and private universities and will draw membership from both sectors.

Previously, private universities had no representation in JAB – a bone of contention for years as they missed out on top students, who JAB directed to Kenya’s public universities.

In the draft regulations, CUE details requirements for public and private universities as it begins closely monitoring programmes and accrediting new courses. Previously, public universities relied only on senates to approve courses while private institutions had to seek the green light from the former commission.

Under the regulations, foreign universities will be required to submit proof of accreditation from their home countries before being allowed to offer courses in Kenya. This is expected to lock out institutions offering bogus courses in the country without CUE accreditation.

The regulations also require local institutions to declare their core courses before starting operations, and accreditation will revolve around the core courses.