A proposed University Funding Framework (UFF) by the Universities Fund Kenya is set to give recently established universities more capital grant allocations.
The funding framework proposed allocation of more funds to younger universities under the age of university parameter to help the young universities to develop their infrastructure.
“This parameter will award younger universities more finances to help them build their infrastructure. The younger the university is, the more it will be allocated and the older it is, the less it will be allocated,” read part of the proposed funding framework.
Young universities comprise public constituent colleges and universities that have been recently given charters to reach a full university status.
The Economic Survey report done in 2021, the number of public constituent university colleges rose from 6 in 2019 to 7 in 2020.
Teaching input and output are also parameters that will be used under the capital grant allocation.
The proposed framework stipulates that under the teaching grant, the funds will be allocated as per the courses being offered to students who are government-sponsored students and their respective levels. The respective levels are Undergraduate, Diploma, Masters or PhD.
The same proportion that universities receive from their capitation is the one that will be used as the Universities Fund is already using the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) criterion whereby universities get allocations according to the courses they offer students and their respective levels.
On the research output grant, the framework suggests that grants be allocated to universities based on the number of publications that a university published in the previous year. According to the framework, the higher the number of publications published by a university, the higher the funds it shall be allocated from the research output grant.
Engagement of research in community outreach will also be considered in the award of the research output grant. Besides, the socio-economic impact the research done in the university has had in its surrounding area will also be considered.
Universities that have admitted more students with special needs will be considered in the allocation of the institution factor grant. The higher the number of students with special needs the higher the institution factor grant the university will receive.
The institution factor grant is intended to assist universities to make their built environment more accessible to all Persons living with Disabilities (PWDs).