Dawning reality of 2012 law on varsities and its impact

Something happened in 2012, and few noticed as we prepared for the 2013 polls. The best time to sneak in a new law is just before the polls when everyone is hypnotised, excited and inattentive. 

 A new education law came into effect. One of its tenets is that all the universities came under one law. Previously, each university was established under an Act of Parliament. 

That gave the university lots freedom to run its affairs and protected it from interference by both internal and external forces.  It also gave a university its own identity. This process ensured universities were not “given.” 

More curiously, the new law “equalised” all the universities; old and new, public and private and quietly put them under the control of the Ministry of Education.  Check graduation supplements to confirm that. 

 To confirm the quiet revolution, the top positions in the universities are now being filled through the Public Service Commission. That brings in the intricacies like regional balances, the face of Kenya and lobbying.  Does that mute meritocracy? 

The shifting power in control of universities is further espoused by the recent change in retirement age downwards. It is likely to be quietly supported because it puts the academic staff at par with the rest of the workers and “creates” jobs.

We see the few jobs, not the waste after retiring brains with years of intellectual investment, forget AI, it’s just collates our research to appear “clever.” Serious academics and researchers are like wine; they become better with age. 

One contentious issue in academia is productivity. The public does not feel or see our productivity.  The truth is that our research ideas often find use, at times long after we are dead. Quantum computing is finding commercial applications after 100 years.

It has taken us almost 50 years to find a cure for HIV/ AIDs. Should we stop the research? Judging researchers and academics with “present “parameters is superfluous.  In addition, academics pursue many research ideas. And they don’t know which one will be the next ChatGPT, Gemini, Google or Mpesa. It’s like millions of sperm, but we can’t tell which one will fertilise the egg. Are the rest a waste?  Institutions like universities (and research institutes) should be exempted from general metrics and other nuances like quota systems.

Good brains benefit everyone. We are the beneficiaries of research done in other countries, by men and women we don’t know, think of AI, phones, cars, and vaccines, among other innovations.

In addition, good brains, if not nurtured, can waste away, be misused or be taken up by other countries. We are yet to appreciate the fact that brains are the country’s greatest resource.

No wonder roads and other physical facilities are given priority.

I will ask endlessly, what is the equivalence of the standard gauge railway or expressway in education?  

One of the central prides of top universities in the world is their diversity. They have students and staff from many countries. They epitomise “universality “in university.  The students are exposed to a diversity of ideas and thoughts, inspiring them and imbuing them with confidence. That makes them more competitive in the global market. 

Does the PSC recruitment open the “universal eye”?  Have we been caught in the trap of seeing university jobs like any other? 

What next?

By making our universities appendages of civil service, we risk asphyxiating them. Waiting for directives to define Civil Service. Taking initiatives and advancing new frontiers define universities. We risk filling the universities with conformists, the antithesis of innovation. 

Private universities, with more freedom to make decisions in hiring, will be the beneficiaries of implementing the 2012 education law and its unintended consequences. Their ranking and prestige will rise.

Remember, they now offer courses that were the preserve of public universities, like medicine and engineering. 

We also risk institutionalising inequality as the well-to-do patronise private universities here and abroad. You see the stickers of these universities on their cars in the malls? 

Without treating universities differently, they will not be crucibles of innovations, new firms, jobs and national pride. Remember when our universities got us Nobel prizes?

Building students’ hostels is not the ultimate benefit of having a university nearby. The new universities should be the nucleus of an innovation ecosystem. Just visit Silicon Valley or Boston. 

Finally, by the way, the University's Academic Staff Union (UASU) polls have attracted lots of candidates. It’s unlikely that so many people suddenly got a calling for leadership! 

Truth be told, UASU leadership and the perks offer an exit from lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. I hope my years at the university have not biased me in this write-up.