Magoha warns 98 public university degree courses risk being scrapped

Education CS George Magoha has said that 98 courses which no student was selected for now risk being scrapped.

Details emerging from a universities placement report seemingly left Prof. Magoha concerned with some universities now risking closure.

“We had very good universities about 10 of them, and then there was an uncontrolled proliferation which has produced universities that are not supposed to be there,” said CS Magoha.

“Someone will have to convince me, why we should have 5 universities in 30 square metres…are those things universities?” he posed.

He was addressing Vice Chancellors at the Catholic University of East Africa on Monday during the release of the 2019/2020 universities and colleges student placement results.

Close to 90, 000 students who qualified to join universities last year are to join universities across the country.

During the release of the results, it emerged that 9 degree programs had no applications at all while 98 degree programs attracted applications from students across the country but no student was selected to pursue them.

This is because the applicants either did not qualify for them or were placed to one of their other choices.

For instance, Maseno University had wanted 100 students to pursue Bachelor of Arts in Theology with IT but no student was placed there.

Kisii University had set aside 150 spaces for Bachelor in Science but no single student was placed.

A similar trend in Universities such as Kenya Assemblies of God East University and Scott Christian University which had set aside spaces for BA in church educational Ministries and Bachelor of Theology in Pastoral Theology.

Prof. Magoha was quick to note that such courses were straining government resources for no good:  “If you have people on contract whom you had hired, if you have academic staff whose programmes are not relevant, disengage them, let them go. We have to put our learning in line with the job market.”

In last year’s KCSE examination, 90,755 students scored a mean grade of C+ and above, hence were eligible for placement to universities as Government-sponsored students.

Another 98,393 applicants have been placed to various polytechnics and technical training institutions countrywide.

There will be continuous placement of students to TVET institutions throughout the year.