The National Assembly is planning to rescue troubled public universities which have debts amounting to around Kshs. 43 billion.
According to the National Assembly budget committee report, financial issues came about due to the failure to implement the new funding formula.
Using the Differentiated Unit Cost model, the government funds around 40% of universities.
Once this mode of funding is fully implemented, public universities will have access to resources and will be able to overcome the issues that have plagued them for a long time.
The rest of the funding (60%) will be collected via school fees, projects and other internal revenue-generating procedures.
According to the PS for University Education Simon Nabukwe, the government should plan to save universities just like they do with Kenya Airways.
The Members of Parliament claim that funding for varsity projects is reduced on a constant basis and this had prevented them from being completed.
“The Capital projects being targeted for 2022/2023 should be guarded against supplementary budget cuts to allow for their completion,” reads the report.
Regarding tracking students’ progress, the MPs agreed to implement a system to do so. The system will help in identifying students who are enrolled in the school and those who have dropped out or deferred.
The report recommended all universities have a credible and centralized pool of data to assist in planning and budgeting. A connection of the data to the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS).