Inside Ruto’s plans to merge KUCCPS, HELB, and University Funding Board (UFB)
Ruto opens up on his plans to merge the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), HELB, and the University Funding Board (UFB)
Ruto opens up on his plans to merge the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), HELB, and the University Funding Board (UFB).
According to President William Ruto, his administration will abolish the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and develop a new system for financing colleges.
President Ruto stated that many universities in the country are having financial difficulties due to inadequate funding, despite the fact that students continue to swarm higher education institutions, in a joint media interview on Wednesday night at State House Nairobi.
The Head of State discloses that HELB, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), and the University Funding Board (UFB) will be merged to achieve efficacy and efficiency in the new formula to salvage the current financial crisis in the institutions.
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“We have a huge problem with higher education. Auditor General already has said almost all universities are bankrupt because they have many problems,” President Ruto said.
“Recently, some university managements were taken to court because they have not paid salaries for lecturers and other staff. The case is just chaotic because the government capitation is just only 52 percent of the funds they need.”
The president further added, “As a government, even if we look at Kenya Kwanza manifesto, we will put together HELB, KUCCPS, and University Funding Board so that we will not have one institution doing funding, another places students in universities and colleges and they do not share notes. This is what leads to confusion because students continue to join universities with no enough funding and [we] find ourselves here.”
“We will ensure that there is harmony and we will harmonize all these institutions so that when a student joins a particular university or college, the government knows what amount the institution should be given.”
Ruto says that unless the current crisis in the institutions are dealt with, the quality of education in universities and colleges is likely to decline.
“This is the only way we will bring order in our universities so that we don’t have institutions that are cash-strapped. If this issue is not addressed now, we’re going to interfere with the quality of education in our universities,” he said.
A national skills and funding council will be established by Ruto’s administration to link the two levels and encourage academic advancement by offering a credit transfer system.
To pay for expenses other than tuition, the National Education Fund will secure grants, bursaries, and scholarships from private and public sponsors.
The focus of President Ruto’s administration would be on Technical Training and Vocational Educational Training Institutions (TVET), he added.
“The issue of TVET had stopped some time back because there were people who were not understanding this sector. We are employing around 2,000 TVET tutors. We have 50 TVETs that are not equipped and we’re in talks with China and Germany to equip these institutions so that our youth will acquire skills and competence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem),” said Ruto.
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