Nexus between Kenya’s Higher Education Financing, Equity and Quality: Implications for Policy and Practice

Abstract

My journey towards this inaugural lecture dates back to 1998/99 when I was the director of studies. I sat in the committee that identified needy students for bursary allocation in high school and came face to face with not just the high number of needy cases but also what I considered a flawed means testing tool. This inspired my study on, Equity implications of bursary as a method of financing secondary school education as the Lorenz curve and Gini- Coefficients for all the years studied measured above 0.5 index. Later, I delved into the unending challenge of Equity in Access to University Education in Kenya through HELB Loans in Relation to Demand Supply and Effectiveness in Loan Recovery. The focus was on the strong link between equitable financing of university students and increased access to higher education recommending amendment of the HELB Act 1995 to make it more effective in loan recovery. HE financing in Kenya has been marked by shifting socio-political regimes determined by micro-economic fluctuations and policy shifts of international funding agencies. I identify and trace four distinctive evolving phases of funding which underpin the current state but all of which have implications on equity and quality. I link these with my works of over 20 years to establish the nexus between financing, equity and quality. Inability by HELB to effectively recover funds from past loan recipients is established implying that efforts towards creation of a revolving fund to minimise financial burden on the exchequer remains a mirage. A strong Justification for increased financing of HE is advanced on the link between growth in the ratio of tertiary education enrolments and growth in national income, signalling a departure from earlier education policy for developing countries that put higher premium on investment in primary education. The new VSLF model is recommended as it will increase revenue at the disposal of HE institutions. MOEST is urged to invest in a technical study to establish the actual cost of programmes in each university without relying on individual university costing of programs and use it to improve the model. Similarly, the proportions of students in each household category be determined scientifically and imputed into the funding formula. HELB is urged to embrace means testing app (MTA) akin to the ‘Odemmusta app’ rather than means testing instrument (MTI) to render the process more efficient, convenient, cost-effective and verifiable. I caution that if capital and salary costs are factored into the costs of the programmes, costs of HE would rise beyond the reach of most Kenyans. I recommend the amendment of the Procurement Act as it has either been abused or not been effective in lowering costs of higher education in the procurement of goods and services.