Towards Enhancing Academic Standards And Ethical Professionalism At Public Universities.

Abstract

Institutions of learning particularly universities in Africa have been experiencing some challenges. Here in Kenya these challenges include lack of funds (cash straps), poor management of resources, appointment into positions of power men and women not well trained in leadership and management thus lacking in skills required to run those institutions. At times these institutions are affected by strikes based on the staff or student unions’ demands. The elevation of various technical colleges into university status in the last few years coincided with a period of rapid expansion in the university expansion in Africa. This has been due to demographic and political pressures that had developed from the years of colonial and previous regimes neglect. Demographically and during the last decades, university education was perceived to be a preserve of a few and most those who supported the status quo of some dictatorial and tyrannical government. Hence these institutions were being built in those areas where the political class had a wide range of followers.  In recent times most African states have had political and economic transformation and as such university education has been liberalized to the extent that almost every country has its own university. It is during this time most private and public universities have emerged. The expansion has taken place at a time when drought, ethnic tension and overall decline in the macro-economic sector, have had negative effects even on the government to be able to finance these institutions. These challenges have really affected the productivity level of public universities as some of their employees have resulted to “moonlighting” and some joining the private sector altogether due to attractive payment. One can easily observe that the impressive expansion of the student enrolments in these institutions has been achieved without a proportionate rise in resources. The most applicable and relevant question would therefore be whether public universities’ rapid expansion has exceeded their capacity to sustain quality education thus making the graduates to give back to the community. Have our public universities been able to produce job-creators instead of job seekers? This article highlights some of the challenges and threats to better education and research and proposes few ideas that could be applied to assist public universities maintain their reputation and their n level of academic professionalism.

Key Words: ENHANCING, UNIVERSITY EDUCATION, STANDARDS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS