University of Nairobi Disbands Parallel Degree Finance Department

The University of Nairobi (UoN) has on 25^th November disbanded the department that handles parallel degree finances following the Presidents call for austerity measures.

The acting Vice-Chancellor of UoN Prof Isaac Mbeche has directed that in accordance with the President’s directive, the department be disbanded and staff be redeployed.

The former finance department of parallel degrees at the University of Nairobi will henceforth be used as banking facilities.

The President had called on universities to cut costs and have the National Treasury collect all the monies generated by all public universities, including the monies paid to the universities by students on parallel, also known as module II students.

Last week, Prof Mbeche released a circular stating that, “Any surplus funds invested in Treasury Bills by any college or any other form of investment must be liquidated and submitted to the National Treasury on or before November 15, 2019”.

The directive had long been given to public universities Vice-chancellors by former Cabinet Secretary for Education Dr. Fred Matiang’i who wanted the Treasury to collect and have the money managed by Universities Funding Board (UFB) but had been rejected by the dons who claimed that the monies generated were always declared and ploughed back to the program.

The money collected by universities was mostly sourced from non-government sponsored students, popularly known as Module II students.

The presidential directive threatens to bring to an end the parallel program that saw most university staff members paid as the government now caters for all qualified students.

Students who attain C+ and above in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) are directly absorbed into all universities, leaving a few privately sponsored students who in the competitions between universities are shared amongst both private and public universities, with some missing out.

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