Staff cuts loom as universities adopt new funding model

Public universities should consider sacking some of their workers to cope with reduced funding, according to the National Treasury. This was part of proposed austerity measures as the government implements a new funding formula that has substantially reduced capitation for universities, writes Augustine Oduor for the Standard Digital.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich admitted last week that universities were experiencing a funding crisis, and were failing to remit third-party deductions such as medical aid and pension contributions, following the implementation of a new ‘Differentiated Unit Cost’ (DUC), the amount of money required by an institution to teach one academic programme per year per student.

"It is possible that as the institutions try to adopt to this, they fail to remit third-party deductions," said Rotich. He added that most universities might have failed to remit the money they collected to the Kenya Revenue Authority, the National Social Security Fund, and the National Hospital Insurance Fund because of the funding shock. "Maybe the DUC should have been implemented in phases but universities may now have to adopt new measures and this may include cutting staff numbers as they adapt to the new funding formula," said Rotich.
Full report on the Standard Digital site