Government and Policy

UON To Scrap More Degree Courses To Reduce Ballooning Debt

BY Getrude Mathayo · February 28, 2022 11:02 am

KEY POINTS

We were offering more than 500 courses but we cut these to 300, but we can still push them down. The Senate is engaging to see which ones as we continue to downsize so that we focus where we have a competitive edge as a university - UoN

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The university has decided to take drastic action to cut costs to ensure that the University of Nairobi is not removed from the map of Kenya. We must try as much as possible to live close to our means and improve our revenue.

The University of Nairobi (UON) has announced plans to scrap more degree courses in a year after eliminating more than 250 units, prompting layoffs of lectures in a bid to reduce the ballooning debt at the institution.

Vice-Chancellor Stephen Kiyama said the university would restrict recruitment to critical departments and reduce the number of courses from the current 324 to focus more on engineering, medicine, and information technology

He added that the aim is to ensure that the university stays afloat amidst the cash crunch at the institution that has seen the debts exceed 34 billion shillings

“The university has decided to take drastic action to cut costs to ensure that the University of Nairobi is not removed from the map of Kenya. We must try as much as possible to live close to our means and improve our revenue,” he stated.

The university has currently defaulted on mandatory payments such as the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), National Social Security Fund (NSSF), and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) as well payment of insurance premiums for its staff.

He did not specify which courses would be scrapped as part of the cost-cutting strategy. UON’s workforce is estimated to be 4,000 after eight colleges closed last year.

“We were offering more than 500 courses but we cut these to 300, but we can still push them down. The Senate is engaging to see which ones as we continue to downsize so that we focus where we have a competitive edge as a university.”

“We cannot just do what everybody else is doing, we must stick to where we know we are the best,” he stated.

The Institute may have to lay off some lecturers and non-teaching staff as a result of the drastic reduction in the programs offered.

“The University has decided to take drastic action to cut costs to ensure that the University of Nairobi is not taken off the map of Kenya. We need to live as close to our means as possible and improve our revenues. Efforts should be made as much,” Prof. Kiyama said.

He added that the university will only hire staff for critical departments, where existing staff cannot be re-trained to replace those who retire or leave due to illness.

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