Privatisation and Private Higher Education in Kenya: Implications for Access, Equity and Knowledge Production

Authors

Daniel Wesonga
Fatuma Chege
Ibrahim Ogachi Oanda
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57054/codesria.pub.143

Keywords:

Higher Education, Kenya, Privatisation , Knowledge Production

Synopsis

CODESRIA, ISBN: 2-86978-218-7; ISBN 13: 9782869782181; 108 pages, 2008

Over the last decade or so, the privatization of public universities and the growth in the number of accredited private universities has picked up steadily in Kenya. The growth in the private university sector has been more in the number of institutions than in the volume of students; while in the public universities, privatization has resulted in increase of the number of private students, whose enrolments in some institutions and programs surpass the number of students on government sponsorship.

This book delves into the implications and tensions that this development has occasioned in Kenya, as regards the responsiveness of private higher education to issues of broadening access, equity considerations and the traditional research function of universities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Daniel Wesonga

teaches Economics of Education and planning in the Department
of Educational administration, Planning and Curriculum Development at Kenyatta
University, Kenya. He has in the recent past coordinated a research project on the
development of private universities in Kenya, commissioned by the Ford Foundation.
Wesonga is also a member of Women Educational Researchers in Kenya (WERK), a
private research organisation committed to research issues on women, gender and
education.

Fatuma Chege

Fatuma Chege teaches Philosophy and Sociology of Education in the Department
of Educational Foundations, Kenyatta University Kenya. Her recent publications
include: ‘Constructing femininities and masculinities within the framework of domestic
labour: the experience of Kenyan schoolchildren’, in the Journal of Educational Focus
(Lagos). She has also co-authored ‘Sex talk and sex education’ in the African Journal of
Aids Research, and ‘Gender sexual identities and HIV/AIDS Education in Africa’, for
UNICEF, East and southern Africa regional office (ESARO). Fatuma currently
coordinates the Kenyan country study research project on African-Asian Universities
Dialogue to Develop a Self-Reliant approach for Promoting Basic Education in Africa
through Research; a joint undertaking by JICA, UNESCO, Hiroshima University and
the Department of Educational Foundations, Kenyatta University.

Ibrahim Ogachi Oanda

who coordinated this project and edited the final manuscript,
teaches Sociology and Philosophy of Education at the Department of Educational
Foundations, Kenyatta University, Kenya. His recent research includes ‘Revitalizing
Regional Collaboration in Higher Education and Training for Economic integration:
The Case of the East African community (OSSREA)’. He has participated in research
on ‘The socioeconomic and regional profile of students in Kenyan public universities’
(with Paul Achola), sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and with Okwach Abagi,
‘Revitalizing the Financing of University Education in Kenya: Addressing strategies
and wastage (AAU)’. Currently, Oanda is at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign on post-doctoral research focussing on the teaching of Women and Gender
Studies in East African Universities. He is also in the Kenya research team on the
African-Asian Universities Dialogue to Develop a Self-Reliant Approach for Promoting
Basic Education in Africa through Research.

References

Aina, Tade A., 1997, ‘Globalization and Social Policy in Africa: Issues and Research directions’, CODESRIA Working Paper Series, No. 196, Dakar: CODESRIA.

Ajayi, J. F. Ade, Goma, L. K. H., & Johnson, Amphah, G. , 1996, The African Experience with Higher Education. Accra, Ghana/London: AAU/James Currey & Athens.

Altbach, Philip, G., 2004, ‘Globalization and the University: Myths and Realities in an unequal World’, Tertiary Education and Management, No 1.

Altbach, Philip, G., 2001, ‘Higher Education and the WTO: Globalization Run Amok’,International Higher Education, No. 3, Spring.

Altbach, Philip, G., 1992, ‘Patterns in Higher Education Development: Towards the year 2000’, in Emergent issues in comparative education, edited by Robert, F. A., Philip, G. A & Gail, P. K, New York: State University of New York Press.

Apple, M., 2001, Educating the Right Way, New York: Routledge.

Apple, M., 1993, Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative age, New York and London: Routledge.

Aspen Institute, 1999, The International Poverty Gap. Investing in people and technology to build sustainable pathways out, A report of the Aspen Institute International Peace Security and Prosperity Program, Atlanta, Georgia.

Banya, K. ,2002, ‘Higher Education and the Impact of Globalization on University Education in Sub Saharan Africa’, Society for Research into Higher Education News, No. 48.

Bok, D., 2003, Universities in the Marketplace. The commercialization of Higher Education, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Carpenter, J., 2003, ‘New Evangelical Universities: Cogs in a World System or Players in a New Game?’, International Journal of Frontier Missions, 20, 2, Summer.

Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha, 2002, ‘Public Universities, private funding: The challenges in East Africa’, Paper presented at the international symposium on African Universities in the 21st Century.

Chachage, C. L. S., 2001, ‘Higher Education Transformation and Academic Exterminism’,CODESRIA Bulletin, No. 1&2.

D’Souza Alba C., 2001, ‘Reforming University Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case study of Kenya’, Stanford, CA., Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation: Stanford University.

Daystar University website, http://www.daystarus.org/history.htm Deloitte & Touche, 1994, ‘Private University study for the commission for Higher Education’,Final Report. Nairobi: Kenya.

Denzin, K., 1998, ‘Gender, Power and Contestation: Rethinking, Bargaining with Patriarchy’,in Jackson, C. & Pearson, R., eds., Feminist Visions of Development, London & New York: Routledge.

Dill, D., 1997, ‘Higher Education Markets and Public Policy’, Higher Education Policy, Vol. 10,314, pp. 167-186.

Dima, Ana-Maria, 2004, ‘Higher Education Privatization in a Steering Conceptual Context’,CHEPS, Twente University, Summer School: The Netherlands.

Douglass, J. A., 2005, ‘All Globalization is Local: Countervailing forces and the influence on Higher Education Markets’, Research and Occasional Paper Series, Centre for Studies in Higher Education, Berkeley: University of California.

East African Standard, 2004, ‘Education has come full circle’, 18 April.

East African Standard, 2005, ‘Varsities have stopped Researching, says minister’, 18 February.

East African Standard, 2005, ‘Schools and Careers’, 30 November.

Eisemon, T. O., 1992, ‘Private Initiatives and Traditions of State Control in Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa’, PHEE Background Paper Series, Education and Employment Division, Population and Human Resource Department, Washington DC: The World

Bank.

Farrell, J. P., 1992, ‘Conceptualizing Education and the Drive for Social Equality’, in Robert, F. A., Philip. G. A. & Gail, P. K., eds.,. Emergent Issues in Comparative Education, New York: State University of New York Press, pp. 107-122.

Geiger, R. L., 1986, Private Sectors in Higher Education; Structure, Function and Change in Eight Countries. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Griffin, R & A. R. Khan, 1992, Globalization and the Developing World: An essay on the international dimension of development in the post-cold war era, Geneva: UNRISD.

Johnston, D. B., 2000, ‘Privatization in and of Higher Education in the USA’, Sunny-Buffalo website,

Kezar, A., 2004, ‘Obtaining Integrity? Reviewing and Examining the Charter between Higher Education and Society’, The Review of Higher Education, Vol. 27 (4), pp. 429-459.

Kiamba, C., 2003, ‘The Experience of Privately Sponsored Students and Other Income Generating Activities at the University of Nairobi’, Case study prepared for the Regional Training Conference on Improving Tertiary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Things

that Work!, Accra: September 23-25.

Knight, J., 2003, ‘GATS, Trade and Higher Education; perspective 2003 — where are we?’,The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education Report, International Strategic Information Service.

Kwiek, M., 2003, ‘The State, the Market and Higher Education; Challenges for the New Century’, in The University, Globalization Central Europe, Kwiek Marek, ed., Frankfurt/New York: Peter Lang.

Levy, D. C., 2003, ‘Profits and Practicality; How South Africa Epitomizes the Global Surge in Commercial Private Higher Education’, Working Paper No 4, PROPHE, Albany State University of New York.

Levy, D. C., 1986, Higher Education and the State in Latin America; Private Challenges to Public Dominance, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mamdani, M., 1993, ‘University Crisis and University Reform: A Reflection on the African Experience’, CODESRIA Bulletin, No. 3.

Miriam, H., 2001, ‘Policy Approaches to Educational Disadvantage and Equity in Australian Schooling’, International Institute for Educational Planning Working Document, Paris.

Mkandawire, T., 1998, ‘Notes on Consultancy and Research in Africa’, Copenhagen: Centre for Development Research.

Mohamedbhai, G., 1998, The Role of Higher Education in Developing a Culture of Peace in Africa: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects, UNESCO, Regional Office for Education in Africa, Dakar: UNESCO.

Murunga, G. R., 2001, ‘Private Universities in the Kenya Higher Education Experience’,CODESRIA Bulletin, No. 1 & 2.

Mwiria, K, & Ngome, C. K., 1998, ‘The World of Private Universities; the Experience of Kenya’, NORRAG NEWS. No. 23, October.

Newman, F., 2000, ‘Saving Higher Education’s Soul’, www.Futures.project.org

Nisbet, R., 1971, The Degradation of the Academic Dogma: The University in America, 1945–1970, New York: Basic Books.

Ntshoe, I. M., 2003, ‘Higher Education and Training Policy and Practice in South Africa: Impacts of Global Privatization, quasi-Marketization and new Managerialism’, International Journal of Educational Development (24), pp. 137-154.

Olukoshi, A. & Oyekanmi, F., 2001, ‘Editorial’, CODESRIA Bulletin. Nos. 1& 2, Dakar: CODESRIA.

Reehana, R., n.d., ‘Ensuring Access and Equity through Measuring’, International Research Foundation for Open Learning, Cambridge, http://www.ignou.ac.in/theme

Republic of Kenya, 2004, ‘Kenya Review and Appraisal: Final Report on the implementation of Beijing Platform for Action, 1994-2004’.

Republic of Kenya, 2003, Economic Survey, Nairobi: Government Printer.

Republic of Kenya., 1991, Ministry of Education, University Education in Kenya, Request for World Bank Credit, Nairobi: Government Printer.

Republic of Kenya, 1981, Report of the Presidential Working Party on the Establishment of the Second University in Kenya, Nairobi: Government Printer.

Rhoades, G., n.d., ‘Democracy and Capitalism Academic Style: Governance in contemporary Higher Education’.

Ross, M. G., 1976, The University; The anatomy of academy, McGraw Hill Books Company. Saint, W. S., 1992, Universities in Africa; Strategies for Stabilization and Revitalization, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Samoff, J. and Bidemi, C., 2003, ‘From Manpower Planning to the Knowledge Era: World Bank Policies on Higher Education in Africa’, UNESCO Forum, Occasional Paper Series, No. 2, Stanford University.

Shafritz, J, M and Russell, E. W., 2000, Introducing Public Administration, 2nd edition, Addison Wesley Longman.

Spartains Educational, 2001, ‘Women in the University’, www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk Teffera, D. & Altbach, P. G., eds., 2003, African Higher Education; An International Reference Handbook, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

UNESCO, 2004, ‘Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equity’, in Global Monitoring Report 2003/04, http://portal.unesco,org

/education

UNESCO, 1998, World Declaration on Higher Education in the 21st Century, Vision and Action, and Framework for Priority, Action for change and Development in Higher Education, Paris, October.

UNESCO, 1993, World Education Report, Paris: UNESCO. University of Nairobi, 2003, ‘Graduation booklet’.

USIU, 2005, ‘Data Elements (DE) to support the capacity and preparatory Review, Report’, Nairobi, USIU.

Varghese, N. V., 2004, ‘Private Higher Education in Africa’, International Institute for Educational Planning, Association for the Development of Education in Africa and the Association of African Universities.

Wandiga, S.O., 1997, Capacity Building and Institutional Development in Higher Education in Kenya, Paris: UNESCO, IIEP.

Williamson, J., 1999, ‘What Should the Bank Think about the Washington Consensus?’, Paper prepared for the World Bank’s World

Development Report, 2000, Washington DC: The World Bank.

World Bank, 2004, ‘Focus on Women and Development’, in Devnews Media Centre, www.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/news.

World Bank, 2002, Constructing Knowledge Societies; New Challenges for Higher Education, Washington DC: The World Bank.

World Bank, 2000, Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise, The Task Force on Higher Education and Society, Washington DC: The World Bank.

World Bank, 1995, Towards Gender Equity, The Role of Public Policy, Washington DC: The World Bank.

World Bank, 1987, Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policies for Adjustment, Revitalization and Expansion, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Zeleza, P. T., 2003, ‘Academic Freedom in the Neo-liberal Order; Governments, Globalization, Governance and Gender’, Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 149–194.

Downloads

PDF file

Published

October 25, 2008

Series

CODESRIA Books
Copyright (c) 2008 CODESRIA Books Publication System

Details about this monograph

Physical Dimensions