Education CS Machogu Says Gov't to Stop Funding Public Universities

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has said the government will no longer fund public universities and colleges.

Citing the current financial crisis affecting most public universities and colleges, Machogu said the institutions must find alternative sources of income to ease pressure on the government.

He called on publicly-owned institutions of higher learning to embrace research, innovation, and technology to generate their own-sourced income as the government is in the process of withdrawing its financial support.

 “In Kenya, education takes about 25.9 percent and we have to find other ways of creating and generating revenues for universities and they have to look at other revenues,” he said at the Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology in Nyeri on Saturday.

He added: “I’m going to move around each and every university in Kenya because a number is faced with financial problems and we are encouraging that they must generate their own income because the exchequer as it is now is not going to continue funding more.”

Last week, Universities Fund CEO Geoffrey Monari said it is becoming unsustainable for the government to increase allocation to support the institutions as the number of students qualifying for universities is increasing every year.

‘’The funding requirement for 2022 cohort of 145,145 students is Sh32.7 million while available funds are Sh12.6 million. The incoming cohort is larger than the graduates exiting by 52,195 hence it’s expected that the funding requirements will increase,” Monari said.

He indicated that the situation has been exacerbated by the 100 percent transition for students attaining a C+ and above which has increased access to universities.