Justus Barasa Maende
Abstract
There has been expansion of higher education in the recent years since President Kibaki’s Administration. Universities and Middle Level Colleges are now easily accessible by most Kenyans and there are indications that the expansion trend is likely to continue. But how do current trends in higher education expansion deal with social exclusion, equity considerations, articulate issues of class, gender, and ethnicity and contribute to social development? Most leaders lobby for their regions to get more institutions. However, in this paper, I argue that the expansion is not driven by the need to have the face of Kenya in employment positions, but by the need by the local communities to take over employment opportunities. In the recent past, National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) reported that, the situation was pathetic because most universities have majorly employed staff from the communities where the universities are located. Three years later, Moi and the Masaai Mara Universities were closed after students’ unrest which was fueled by ethnic biases. Kenyans should depend on institutions of higher learning to improve cohesion and integration in the country. This paper therefore reiterates that one of the aims of higher education expansion should be to promote national cohesion and integration; which is bedeviling Kenya.
Key words: national cohesion and integration, integrity, institutions of higher learning
Contact details: Justus Barasa Maende, Senior Editor at The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
To cite this article: Justus Barasa Maende; Role of Higher Education Expansion in Enhancing Cohesion and Integration in Kenya., Journal of African Studies in Educational Management and Leadership, Vol. 7.2, pp 62-75
Available online December 2016
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