Only 1 in 10 PhDs is Genuine in Kenya –George Magoha

It is emerging that only 1 in 10 PhDs in Kenya is genuine, raising more concerns on the extent of rot in Kenya’s institutions of higher learning.

“Holding a paper does not mean anything. Some universities are producing more than 100 PhDs per year but when you look at the quality, it is only 10 who merit to have the doctorate degrees,” said Education CS, Professor George Magoha.

The CS has now directed the Commission for University Education (CUE) to establish whether the PhDs met the set standards promising to “revoke all those that will not meet the merit.”

It is said that the majority of PhD holders have no idea of what their course entails because they often pay other people to do both the classwork and practical for them. Almost all PhD holders in Kenya did not write their thesis themselves but paid other people to do it.

Kenya has been described as the hotbed of academic dishonesty, where hundreds of thousands of jobless youth are making millions of shillings from writing thesis and term papers for students in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Thomas Lancaster, a senior fellow at Imperial College London said “Kenya is the hotbed where writing happens. There is high unemployment and a job working from home is coveted. They have good English and low overheads.”

Kenyan universities have been blamed for channeling out half-baked graduates, most of who have mastered theoretical aspects of their education and not the much-needed practical skills in the job market.

“At the Kenyan university nowadays, all you need is a big hall and a microphone to create a graduate,” said one lecturer from one of the local universities said.

The rate of unemployment in Kenya is estimated to be at 43.5 percent according to an official from the National Employment Authority.

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