Why Golden Age for Universities May Not Last
Years back, students used to enjoy university freedom as almost everything was provided freely; the golden age has been brought to a standstill.
Nancy Odindo 
Challenges presented by covid-19 coupled by Higher Education Loans Board’s warning, call for transformation by the universities and other institutions offering higher education.
Recently, the student loaning board, HELB, announced that 95,000 students will not be funded due to budgetary cuts and non-performing loans arising from unemployment cases and effects of covid-19.
“We hope to fund about 450,000 students both in TVET and Universities at a total cost of about SH12.8 billion. That means about 95,000 students will go unfunded this year. They have just resumed their classes and we are worried on how we are going to manage that situation. That is how the situation is since there are no revenues flowing into the country and people are unemployed, so they cannot be able to pay their loans,” said Charles Ringers, the HELB Chief Executive Officer.
2020 KCSE results presented 143 140 students who are supposed to join the universities to pursue bachelors degrees. Unfortunately, only 80 000 of the students will be considered.
However, with the economic status of the country, those who will fall in the omitted section are likely to lose interest in furthering their dreams.
Years back, students used to enjoy university freedom as almost everything was provided freely; the golden age has been brought to a standstill.
As 18 to 24-year-olds population continued to grow rapidly, with insufficient domestic provision, universities in the overseas offering full scholarships benefitted the most, making international education one of the major exports sector.
KPMG reported: “In Australia, it is the country’s third-largest form of export and, in the State of Victoria, it is the largest.”
However, with the closure of international boarders and covid-19 restrictions, the norm may change; a reason to why local universities have to transform or optimize their models to save the future of higher education.
The institutions need to transform their back office, operating model, technology and the sum of their capabilities; it is not all about curriculum, learning delivery, student support and research.
Most of the universities have been running out of road and are going past the equilibrium point, where human aspiration and economic reality seem to balance each other.
KPMG Investigations say that, “the problem lies in the inability to scale up under the current, largely face-to-face, model of higher education and the organizational culture that surrounds it”.
According to a report by Professor Stephen Parker, Global Lead, Education and Skills, KPMG International:
• "The gloss has come off with employers. As economic change has sped up, industry has increasingly called for job-ready graduates rather than have to train them in-house; and the expectations of graduates by employers are being disappointed. Many employers say they are looking primarily for things that universities do not directly teach, such as social skills, emotional intelligence, teamwork, communication and time management.
• The gloss has come off with governments. Aging populations and the politics of healthcare are a powerful competitor for public funds, and votes. Cuts in public funding for universities have been experienced in many jurisdictions, partly offset by rises in student fees which have compounded the graduate debt problem.
• And the gloss has come off amongst some of those who have ardently supported higher education as a force for good and value for money. If it is so good for equity, why is income and wealth inequality rising? If students are paying all this money, why do they mainly see adjunct teachers, and not tenured faculty members? "
More disruptive forces such as digital revolution suggests a bleaker future for the institutions that will not transform as they provide affordable online education.
“Depending on the region of the world, e-learning is expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 7.5 to 10.5 percent between 2018 and 2024,” stated the report, “Many traditional universities are organizationally unable, or culturally unwilling, to participate in this and some competitors are becoming stronger and stronger.”
To cultivate, shape and respond to a changing world of education, learning institutions need to;
• Review their strategy, mission and purpose
• Improve core capabilities
• Adopt a target operating model, and
• Modernize technology
