The program of admitting government-sponsored students to private universities now hangs in the balance as private institutions threaten to jolt out.
Vice Chancellors of private universities are decrying low funding for the admitted students, which they say is far below what is given to public universities.
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National Association of Private Universities in Kenya (Napuk) Secretary-General Vincent Gaitho said the universities are facing serious financial woes due to the government’s discriminatory nature in funding.
“There is a glaring discrimination in the implementation of the differentiated unit cost (DUC) by University Funding (UF) where government-sponsored students in private universities receive less than half DUC received by government-sponsored students in public universities,” said Gaitho.
The exodus from the DUC has already begun, and Gaitho says that other institutions of higher learning will follow suit if the matter is not resolved.
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“The cost of supporting university education funding for government-sponsored students in private universities has occasioned some to opt-out and may cause more to follow suit,” he said.
DUC sees the government reimburse about Ksh44,000 for each student admitted to a private university, against Ksh125,000 per student disbursed to public institutions.
The cost-sharing program was introduced in 2016 through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to curb overcrowding in public universities.
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