In Summary
- Diploma and certificate courses to be eliminated from universities
- Technical and Vocational institution to contain diploma and certificate admissions
- Commission for university education to recognize and equate postgraduate certificate and diploma conferred by foreign universities and institution
The Ministry of Education has announced plans to eliminate diploma and certificate courses in public universities.
The move aims to strengthen tertiary institutions but will deal a significant financial blow to universities already reeling from financial crisis.
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The New Arrangements
In the proposed Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023, MPs propose that universities should only offer postgraduate diplomas and postgraduate certificates.
The principal objective of this Bill is to end the practice of universities offering certificate and diploma courses.
The proposed law seeks to prohibit the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service from placing students to undertake these courses at a university.
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Universities To Offer Degree & Postgraduate Programs
Currently, certificates are ratified by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority for technical and vocational colleges and by the Commission for University Education in the case of universities.
Universities are intended to be institutions of higher learning and academic research; thus, they should focus on degree and postgraduate programs rather than certificate and diploma courses.
Limiting certificate and diploma courses to technical and vocational colleges will increase enrollment in these institutions which typically record low enrollment numbers despite government investments.
Students currently pursuing diploma and certificate courses at the entry level in various universities are not going affected, allowing them to complete their studies in the current arrangement.
The Bill further seeks to empower the Commission for University Education, to recognize and equate postgraduate certificate and diplomas conferred by foreign universities and institutions.
The proposed law stands to affect a number of public and private universities that rely on these courses to shore up their admission numbers.
