Private initiatives in higher education in Kenya

✍ Scribed by Thomas Owen Eisemon

• Book ID: 104633592
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1002 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0018-1560
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00129439

✦ Synopsis

Africa's higher education crisis has prompted the growth of private institutions. Enrollments are very low and in most African countries do not account for a significant proportion of university enrollments. The largest number of private institutions are in Kenya which is the subject of a case study. Private institutions provide professional training in fields of employment opportunity but also offer an education that emphasizes character building functions of higher studies. Private higher education is expensive to provide and costly to attend. Many private institutions are caught in a dilemma. They can not achieve significant efficiencies by reducing instructional costs without damage to the quality of their programs, and they are reluctant to raise tuition and accommodation charges because of the distorting effects on student recruitment. As long as public higher education is provided at low or no cost and private higher education is entirely self-supporting, the private sector will have a peripheral role in higher education in Kenya and other African countries.