KEY ISSUES IN MANAGING
CROSS-BORDER PROVISION OF EDUCATION
EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES FROM
KENYA
PAPER PRESENTED BY: PROF. KAREGA MUTAHI
PERMANENT SECRETARY MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NAIROBI, KENYA AT
UNESCO/OECD AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE ON
11TH -12th OCTOBER, 2004.
1. INTRODUCTION
•
Kenya is one of the African countries that straddles the equator
•
Has varied climatic conditions ranging from sea level to snow
capped Mt. Kenya.
• 20% is high potential, 80% ranges from medium potential to arid
lands (ASALS) with a population of 28.7 m people of different
races. (2003 survey)
•
3 education systems are in operation i.e. national system of
education locally known as 8.4.4.(KCPE & KCSE) and various
unique systems offered by embassies and high commissions. The
British system is offered in exclusive private primary and
secondary schools i.e. 7.6.3 offering GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels.
•
The systems attract learners both within and outside Kenya,
mainly from eastern African countries (for national system). No
accreditation in primary and secondary education in Kenya,
however the Govt. through MOEST Inspectorate is responsible for
QA - regardless of ownership of schools.
•
For Schools run under embassies, there is no QA by the
Government .
2. THE BROAD POLICY CROSS-BORDER
EDUCATION
•
The Govt’s broad policy for education is articulated in
documents like Strategic Plan (ESSP 2003).
•
The report of National Conference on Education and
Training (2004). And
•
The draft sessional Paper (2004)
In all these papers the Government’s policy is to provide
Education and training through partnership with private
sector and other stakeholders
The overall vision is to provide quality education to all
Kenyans
The medium and long term objective on QA is to deliver
quality education to any learner who joins an institution
in Kenya.
3. THE TRENDS AND STATUS OF CROSSBORDER HIGHER EDUCATION
• Since the inception of the 6th National Development Plan
(1989-1993), the Govt. policy on higher Education has
been geared towards development of a skilled and
versatile workforce to meet increasing demands in
technical and professional areas, which has lead to
expansion of local public universities and a growing
number of private universities.
• The Govt. encourages partnership between public and
private sector , and that approach is expanding the
opportunities for acquisition of higher education in Kenya.
• There is an increased number of students from other
countries with the rising No. of private universities.
• Its interesting to note that while public universities have
33% of students as female, private ones have Gender
parity.
3.1 TYPES OF INSTITUTION AND COURSES OFFERED
In the last decade, private post-secondary institutions have expanded
rapidly in terms of the No. of Institutions, Courses offered and studen
enrolments. These can be classified to the areas of their
specialization:
 Teacher training colleges-offering certificate and Diploma level
qualifications for the teaching career.
 Business schools - offering Accounting and business management
courses.
 Information and technology colleges – mainly computer schools and
academies.
 Professional colleges – offering courses in areas like insurance and
banking.
Main institutions offering cross-border education services are Public &
private universities, commercial colleges, Virtual university and
institutions attached to embassies and High commissions (study
carried out by CHE )
3.1.1 PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES INVOLVED
• Public universities are working with foreign universities thro’
various MoUs to offer key academic programs such as:
University of Nairobi:
Medicine, Engineering, Architecture, Law, Sciences and
Social Sciences.
Moi University- Eldoret:
Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, Education,
Social Sciences
Kenyatta University –Nairobi: Education, Arts and Commerce.
Egerton University- Njoro: Agriculture, Engineering and
Education.
JKUAT: Agriculture, Technology, Computer Science and
Engineering.
Maseno: Education.
Total enrolment of local students is 72,875 students. There are
also exchange students, mainly at postgraduate level.
3.1.2 PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES
•
There are 17 private universities in Kenya, 6 being
chartered & 5 operating under letters of interim
authority, registered to offer higher education. Their
affiliation to foreign universities is an example in
provision of cross-border education.
United States International University(USIU)
Established in 1952, & having started its operations in
Kenya in 1970, USIU is one of the best practices of
cross- border education. (Enrolments up to 2,900
students in 2004)
USIU enjoys dual accreditation and offers the following
programs:
International
Relations,
Psychology,
Journalism, Hotel & Restaurant Management, Business
Administration, Information Systems technology ant
Tourism Management.
3.1.3 EXAMPLES OF COMMERCIAL
COLLEGES
a. Grafins College
The total number of students enrolled is 731.
b. Kenya College of Accountancy KCA)
The total number of students enrolled was 6,645 in 2003.
KCA has entered into partnerships with a number of foreign
Universities.
3.1.4 African Virtual University(AVU)
AVU collaborates in teaching and research with institutions and
universities in USA, Australia and Canada through satellite and
internet technology.
More than 24,000 students from 17 African countries have completed a
semester-long course.
Main courses are Information Technology and Business courses.
Four public universities are collaborating in this programme, the most
active ones being University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University.
3.1.5 Australian Study Institute (AUSI)
AUSI was established in Kenya in 2000, and offers Diploma &
Advanced Diploma courses in;
 Business administration,
 Information technology and
 Diploma in Information Technology
3.1.6 CHARLES KENDAL EDUCATION
SERVICES
Established in 1999, it offers Education services to those seeking
international education or wishing to enroll in Universities abroad
through Distance Learning (DL).
Courses are linked to University of Leicester in UK, University of
Melbourne in Australia and University of North Wood, Saginaw
Valley and Johnson and Wales in USA.
Courses include:
Education counselling
Information on Education opportunities abroad, application processing,
co-ordination and administration of examinations.
The total number of students who have graduated are 18.
3.1.7 THE BRITISH COUNCIL TEACHING
CENTRE
It started offering trans-border education services in 1992.
The students register for the programmes directly with UK
universities, and materials are mailed directly to the students.
Examination materials are sent directly to the Center Manager for
examination administration.
The services offered in addition to examination administration are:
 Registration of students
 Invigilation
 Student information meeting.
The universities involved are Warwick, London, Leicester,
Wolverhampton, Durham, Southern Queensland, Deakin, Bangor and
Henley Management College.
Courses offered include: Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Purchasing and
Supplies(CIPS)
4. QUALITY ASSURANCE
The important elements to consider when addressing QA include:
(a) Admission Criteria
For diploma courses the admission criteria include:
 Pass “C” in KCSE
 Specified grade required for certain courses
For admission to degree programmes, one needs:
 At least mean grade of “C+” in KCSE
 Specified number of points in any given cluster of subjects required
for particular courses (are often imposed)
(b) Physical and Learning /Teaching resources
Provision of physical facilities & learning/ teaching resources is
another determinant.
On the whole, cross-border private institutions have teaching, learning
resources comparable to those in public institutions.
Public institution have greater potential given physical and human
capital resources available to them.
4.2 CAPACITY BUILDING
a. Staff Development
Many cross-border education institutions lack policies on staff
development and capacity building. A number of Lecturers are
foreigners and Volunteers, posing a serious challenge to crossborder provision and has a bearing on national provision due to
the sharing of academic staff.
b. Criteria for registration of institutions
CHE is responsible for registration of degree awarding institutions
while MOEST registers non-degree awarding institutions.
CHE’s conditions are that the institution must have:

A registered Manager

Appropriate numbers of qualified staff

An inspection report from MOH and MOEST.

Application to the Minister for Education.
4.3 ACCREDITATION
There is no specialized agent for accreditation of cross-border
provision of education in Kenya.The functions are undertaken by
CHE, individual public or private institutions.
a.
Collaborations between cross-border education providers and
recognized public institutions of higher learning in Kenya.
Collaboration between any public university and a transnational
provider is initiated through the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding. This is allowed in the respective Acts of
Parliament for the Various public universities.
b. Collaborations with private universities.
Chartered private Universities are not allowed to collaborate with
cross-border education providers.
Where a private university wishes to introduce new courses, it is taken
through an evaluation criteria by CHE and then taken to be a
course of the local university.
(C ) CHE ACCREDITATION MODEL
CHE accreditation model has 4 parts, namely:
 Submission application for establishment of a private university
giving its proposal and evaluation of the proposal
 Grant of letter of interim Authority
 Preparation of legal instruments
 Final Inspection and Award of Charter.
5. CHALLEGES AND ISSUES IN CROSSBORDER EDUCATION
Provision of cross-border education is hampered by several factors,
e.g. infrastructure, human capacity and other resources. Some of
the challenges are discussed below:
5.1 National accessibility to the internet.
In some cases access to the internet is through dial up of leased lines
to ISPs. The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has
challenges of providing effective bandwidth to users of internet.
Telephone lines are mainly concentrated in urban areas. The points
where Jambonet can be accessed in the country are few.
Monopoly of fixed telephone service provision
Limited availability of ICT facilities in institutions
Low level of awareness on usefulness of ICT in the general
development of the country.
Lack of relevant ICT policy to promote e-commerce and e-use in other
sectors.
5.2 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND
ACCREDITATION
It is difficult to establish the number of students participating in online courses.
Local institutions tend to only facilitate the e-learning by providing
facilities and support services such as labs, classes and site
personnel, while the transnational providers develop programmes,
teach, evaluate and award degrees.
The QA mechanism is therefore left to transnational providers and the
product is not vetted by CHE (if collaboration is with a recognized
public institution) – this will change soon
5.3 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR CROSS-BORDER EDUCATION SERVICES
 In Kenya most instructors are from public institutions and 70% of
the staff in cross-border education work on part-time basis.
 Part-time members of staff (full-time staff in public institutions) are
benefiting from stronger ICT infrastructural facilities in private and
commercial types of institutions.
 Providers benefit from experienced staff from public institutions.
5.4 LOW ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION
Access to higher education remains limited at approximately
10% of those who qualified.
Currently, public and private universities accommodate
approximately 30% of all qualified students. This
percentage doesn’t include adult learners in search of
opportunities to improve and acquire knowledge and
qualifications.
It also does not include any foreigners who are working but
may be looking for education opportunities in Kenya.
5.5 COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS
Public and private universities have entered into an era of stiff
competition from trans-national providers, who have come up with
programmes that are flexible for those seeking life long education
while continuing to keep in employment.
5.6 COST OF FINANCING OF CROSS-BORDER EDUCATION
Fees charged by trans-national providers are comparable to those
charged by private universities. These fees are 50% more than
those charged for similar courses in public universities.
The charges can only be afforded by middle and upper level
economic strata who can therefore qualify for better jobs, posing a
serious implication to the achievement of the national goals of
equity and social integration.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAY FORWARD
6.1 Recommendations related to cross border educational services.
 Trans-national providers of education need to be registered under
appropriate legislation in order to ensure quality and compliance.
 The providers need to be evenly distributed between rural and urban
areas.
 The programmes offered need to have a balance between market
driven courses and the need to develop human resources to meet
national development goals.
 Cross-border provision may never provide for the poor.
 We need capacity building for quality assurance.
THANK YOU