The new Higher Education Funding Model the government introduced seeks to give students more access to quality education and free universities from the financial challenges they have faced, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Ezekiel Machogu has said.
Machogu said the old funding model had led the universities to incur a pending bill of up to Ksh70.7 billion.
He said the government had disbursed Ksh5.2 billion in loans to first-year students, saying this demonstrated the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the New Funding Model is implemented without hitches.
“The Ministry will do all it can to ensure that the scholarship kitty of the New Funding Model is disbursed in time to allow universities to run their programmes smoothly,” Machogu said.
He made the remarks during the 6th graduation ceremony of Taita Taveta University.
The Minister, who had just been awarded an Honorary Degree in Humane Letters by the University pledged to champion policies that ensure our educational system is robust, inclusive, and forward-looking.
“Our focus will be on nurturing critical thinking, innovation, and skills development to prepare our youth for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century,” he added.
The Cabinet Secretary asked the leadership of higher education institutions to I can explore ways of adjusting their programmes costs, curricula, and models of delivering training in the context of rising cost of offering quality education and the diversified training needs of the job market.
Machogu said it was important to review the costs, the curricula and models of instruction in order to equip graduates with on-demand skills in this highly competitive marketplace.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Fred Barasa said the University was providing high-quality education and training to its students, saying it had some of the best faculty members for this.
Present included the Chancellor of the University, Dr. Sally Kosgey, the Chairman of the Council, Prof. Isaac Mbeche, Vice-chancellors from public universities among other dignitaries.