Kibaki's government prioritised the expansion of higher education, establishing new public universities and expanding the capacity of existing institutions to accommodate more students. In 2005, the government introduced a policy allowing the establishment of constituent colleges of existing universities in different regions of Kenya, creating pathways for university education beyond the main campuses of the traditional universities like Nairobi, Kenyatta, and Moi University. This decentralisation of higher education, while potentially creating access opportunities, also raised questions about quality assurance and the dilution of standards.
The expansion of university education under Kibaki reflected multiple imperatives: the political demand from various regions for university presence in their localities, the desire to expand Kenya's educated workforce to support economic growth, and the practical challenge of accommodating increasing numbers of secondary school graduates who sought university education. The creation of new universities and the expansion of existing ones generated significant educational opportunities, particularly in regions that had previously been distant from major university centres.
However, the rapid expansion of higher education also created challenges. The government's capacity to fund university expansion adequately was limited, and many of the new institutions suffered from inadequate infrastructure, insufficient qualified faculty, and resource constraints that limited the quality of education provided. The reliance on private funding and private educational institutions to supplement government provision meant that access to quality higher education remained stratified by wealth, with wealthy students able to attend well-resourced private universities while poorer students attended underfunded public institutions.
The expansion of university education under Kibaki also had implications for the structure of Kenya's economy and labour market. As the number of university graduates increased, the premium on tertiary education declined, and graduates faced growing difficulty in securing employment commensurate with their educational qualifications. The expansion of education supply without corresponding growth in demand for educated workers created challenges of underemployment and credential inflation, even as large sections of the Kenyan population continued to lack access to quality secondary education.
Kibaki's approach to education policy reflected his broader economic philosophy: a belief in the importance of education for economic growth, combined with limited government resources and a reliance on private investment and market mechanisms. While the expansion of university education created genuine opportunities for some Kenyans, it also exacerbated existing inequalities and reflected the limitations of using education policy to drive broad-based development without complementary employment creation and economic growth.
See Also
Higher Education Kenya Expansion University System Kenya Education Policy Kenya Kibaki Education Legacy Human Capital Development Social Policy Kenya
Sources
- Hornsby, Charles. Kenya: A History Since Independence. I.B. Tauris, 2012.
- Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Education Sector Report 2002-2013. Government Press, 2013.
- UNESCO. Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Kenya. UNESCO Publications, 2012.