- Title: KENYA: Kenya's "second floor" universities fill higher education gap.
- Date: 18th February 2013
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING/ MARKET STALLS ON ROADSIDE VARIOUS OF ENTREPRENEUR AND COLLEGE STUDENT, STEVEN MBUGUA SELLING POPCORN MBUGUA PACKING POPCORN POPCORN IN MACHINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENTREPRENEUR AND COLLEGE STUDENT, STEVEN, MBUGUA, SAYING: "My dream was to become an accountant and right now I'm taking the course of that accoun
- Embargoed: 5th March 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Education,Education
- Reuters ID: LVADVNDYJNPXKU2S8GJDQTFBQQAP
- Story Text: Nairobi's sprawling Mathare slum is a hub for small-scale entrepreneurs - Kenyans struggling to make a living in an area not short of buyers but extremely humble in spending power.
Fired from his job as a blanket salesman in 2011 and with only 500 shillings in his pocket, Steven Mbugua started a popcorn selling business in a busy market area of Mathare.
With a daily income of 3 US dollars he is able to raise funds for his 35 US dollar-monthly college tuition fee to study accounting.
"My dream was to become an accountant and right now I'm taking the course of that accountant, so I see my dream is coming true and this business is really helping me just to make my dream come true," Mbugua said.
Mbugua is a second-year student at Kenya International Institute of Business Studies (KIIBS), a small college located in Nairobi's chaotic downtown business district.
With a busy bus terminus right outside and buried behind dress shops and clinics that share space in the same building, KIIBS offers courses in everything from hotel management to finance.
The college started in 2011 and has graduated 35 students since.
Despite the busy location, Mbugua says the promise of an accounting qualification makes the distractions bearable.
"If your mind is inside the class and if your business is running, the noise will not affect you because your mind is not outside; your mind is inside the class," he said.
KIIBS is one of a growing number of so-called "second floor" colleges that have been set up to serve thousands of young secondary school graduates that do not make it to public university or cannot afford to pay fees in established private institutions.
KIIBS marketing officer, George Omondi says small universities give a more realistic outlook of the job market.
"Majorly in all those courses we put mandatory that you have to do entrepreneurship, you have to do communication, you have to do computer packages because these form the basis of business and bookkeeping, they form the basis of business. If you would access a job, well done but we want to prepare people so that they don't go out there only to look for a job, they can start creating the jobs," said Omondi.
However, critics argue that the colleges are merely money-making ventures and that the legitimacy and quality of education they offer should be questioned. There have been reports of students receiving certificates that are nothing more than papers forged in dingy backstreet offices.
In a bid to create an edge that will interest recruiters, the desperation for qualification is seen as a symptom of Kenya's high unemployment rate and an out-of-touch education system.
Kenya's Statistics Bureau put unemployment rates at 40 percent in 2010, from 12.7 percent in 2006. USAID says 75 percent of out-of-school Kenyan youth do not have regular, full-time employment.
University of Nairobi lecturer, Joshua Kivuva says part of the problem lies in students who do not take education seriously, regardless of the institution.
"If we just zeroed in on the quality of students as they enter, you will find there is a direct proportion relationship to the quality of student as they get out, the kind of institution not withstanding. Honestly speaking when we get the same quality of students here in our module two, we still produce exactly somebody who is half baked as these universities because of the quality. There is the much you can get from a certain quality," he said.
The seven public universities in the country can only take in a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of secondary school graduates churned out every year, while private universities charge about 4000 US dollars in tuition annually - far too high a price for a large number of students.
With lower budgets, minimal training equipment and moonlighting lecturers, pundits agree that 'second floor' institutions fill a training gap.
Human resource consultant Eric Wahfuko says employers' needs have changed over the years - academic prowess and pedigree is no longer the main determinant for recruitment, while street smarts are increasingly intriguing.
"Employers are not preoccupied with looking at your academic papers only. They're looking at your attitude, deportment and willingness to learn. They're actually looking for your emotional quotient, if you can say, they are looking emotional intelligence, your ability to relate to other people and your ability to take on new assignments and projects with a high degree of flexibility," said Wahfuko.
Dr. Sarah Ruto, regional manager of Uwezo Africa, an organization focused on improving the literacy and numeracy levels in East Africa, says the quality of education in part determines a country's development standards. She says the government should take quality control in schools as a yardstick for Kenya's future.
"So there are all sorts of positives and negatives but for me I think what I would like to see is the ministry of education or higher education taking charge. Such that you do not leave universities to mushroom and design their courses that are not aligned to your vision," said Ruto.
Kenya has embarked on an ambitious development plan to revolutionize its economy, create thousands of jobs, improve infrastructure and reach middle income economy status by the year 2030. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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