What unites private and public university administrators in supporting the Ruto funding model.
Vice Chancellors of both public and private institutions have supported the new model of university funding, which has turned out to be a nightmare for the Kenya Kwanza administration of President William Ruto.
This occurs in response to calls from various parties, such as college students, for the Head of State to return to the Differential Unit Cost (DUC) model.
The new model is a wonderful intervention for universities, according to the VCs led by Profs. Laban Ayiro (Daystar), Samuel Gudu (Rongo), Emily Achieng (Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology), Laila Abubakar (Technical University of Mombasa), and Aloo Obudho (Maasai Mara).
Administrators from the university asked parents and students to support the new funding model during their speech at the Kenya Network of Entrepreneurial Institutions Leaders Council Meeting (KNEIL) in Mombasa.
“As Kenyans, we must recognize that the university funding mechanism is an attempt to address a problem. This model needs time to develop before we can understand which of its many components need to be changed, according to Prof. Ayiro of Daystar University.
The president’s announcement that the state will intervene to support universities during this transitional phase, according to the don, will strengthen the academic institutions.
Prof. Ayiro stated, “I believe we have not fully utilized the potential of revenue generating. I had the honor of being a VC at a public university before moving to a private one.
The academic administrator exhorted academic institutions to embrace innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship.
According to Daystar Ventures, there are numerous international resources available to make sure that universities don’t solely rely on the National Treasury to fund their development and recurring budgets.
The VC said, “I would advise us to adopt a privately oriented mentality because state resources are dwindling and Kenyans still require a university education.”
The VC, who has experience in both economics and education, stated that the new model needs to be implemented for 48 months in order to guarantee both cost and quality.
“A model like this would normally run through a cycle of 48 months if you are looking for quality and cost,” the venture capitalist stated.
According to Prof. Ayiro, the model’s designers need to have included a cushioning fund for the transitional period, allowing institutions to implement the model while raising parental awareness as education progresses to prevent student disadvantage.
The don claims that because the variations were not taken into account while creating the university’s budget, the previous funding strategy was ineffective.
“With the 2022 KCSE students, we implemented the new model, and the results are already being observed.” It is making our institutions’ financial circumstances better. But as Prof. Ayiro noted, it will take at least four years to reap the full rewards of the financing, according to Prof. Aloo.
The VC, whose university enrolls 9,400 students, advised Kenyans to be patient.
Kenyans are eager to believe that the finance model is a magic bullet. Not at all! Give it time, and universities will be grinning in four years. Let’s move past criticizing and denouncing the current model and embrace the new one. The don said, “It’s good, but there wasn’t enough sensitization.
According to the venture capitalists, the approach might provide higher education institutions with a more reliable source of finance than the previous one.
“just because the entire cost is a little bit higher than it was previously.” It is closer to the true cost of the educational program.
Training someone requires a certain amount of money; for example, music technology will cost more than music performance due to the materials used and the one-on-one time teachers spend with students,”
According to the VC, colleges will be able to lower the amount of outstanding debt they are facing.
Prof. Gudu stated that the concept will help higher education institutions that have been struggling financially.
Prof. Gudu stated, “We should apply the new model and address the challenges.”
Dr. Tonny Omwansa, CEO of the Kenya National Innovation Agency, urged academic institutions to collaborate in order to provide solutions for society.
Professor Laila Abubakar, vice chancellor of the Technical University of Mombasa and a participant in the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, praised the new funding model, referring to it as “student-centered.”
She faulted its execution, though.
“That kind of finance model was our idea, but the implementation is proving to be difficult. When we developed the concept, the parent coughed only 20% while the state was meant to pay TVETs and universities 80% of the total cost, according to Prof. Abubakar.
Prof. Abubakar did note that some practical-oriented, expensive courses like engineering and medicine led to the model eventually evolving into DUC.
“You pay less when you enroll in business classes, but more when you enroll in an expensive, intense course. Regretfully, when university enrollment increased, the state stopped providing financing to our institutions, giving us 60% and then 40% instead, according to Prof. Abubakar.
Nonetheless, the VC stated that the stakeholders in education made the decision to guarantee that the state and parents split the expense of a university education.
We made the decision to split up the parents since some are wealthy and some are not. Why would you want to pay Sh16,000 a year for university tuition if you could afford to pay Sh100,000 for both primary and secondary school? asked the Venture Capitalist.
According to Prof. Abubakar, if the student-centered model hadn’t had teething issues during implementation, it would have been effective.
Admission letters have already been sent by her college to 1,500 pupils who have been classified.
In an effort to improve the financial standing of institutions, President Ruto announced the Higher Education Funding Model on May 31, 2023. That September, the model was made available to all first-year students.
The financial difficulties that higher education institutions were facing—they owing more than Sh60 billion—led to the introduction of the concept.
According to the approach, students are categorized into five bands based on the financial necessity of their families, and recipients may receive loans, scholarships, or both.
In order to guarantee that students receive sufficient support, their financial need is assessed using the Means Testing Instrument (MTI), a valid scientific procedure that helps categorize pupils.
The government provides funding in the form of student loans from the Higher Education Loans Board and scholarships given out by the University of Florida.
While the scholarship component will not need to be repaid, the tuition and maintenance loans will be due at graduation and will accrue interest at the rate of 4% annually.
Under the previous arrangement, all government-sponsored students received an automatic scholarship (grant), and graduates were solely responsible for the maintenance loan.
What unites private and public university administrators in supporting the Ruto funding model.
