KU RESEARCH MODULES BY

PROFESSOR PAUL OKEMO

Evolved from Reports on our Educational System since 1963

The ominde report (1964)- to foster National Unity and Development

Gachathi report (1976)- Which was to reform the structure of Education

Mackay report (1988)- whose recommendation established the 8-4-4 sytem of Education

In the 1960s and 1970s there was first growth with GDP at 6%

This GDP was not sustained in the 80s and 90s. In came down to 3%

In the year 2001-2004, the Govt. responded by developing the Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PRSP)

The PRSP focused on development of Human Resource among other things.

The economy managed to recover and by 2007, the growth in GDP was back to 6%

This slowed down during 2007/2008 post-election violence

And the Government has responded by development of Kenya Vision 2030

This is founded on THREE pillars, Economic, Social, and Political

Economic: tourism, agriculture, manufacturing etc.

Social: Education and Training, Health, Water etc

Political governance: Rule of law, Democracy, Election and Political Reforms etc

To realize our Vision 2030, the Education system had to be re-aligned

To be responsive to needs of the society To tolerate decent and differing opinion To be investigative and analytical And to be innovative

Be dynamic All inclusive Globally competitive centre of excellence Providing quality education Training, and research for sustainable

development

Provide quality education Provide quality training Through knowledge generation Research Innovation Creativity and community service

The Response greatly increased demand for

University education We note that the population has increased,

and The number of Universities have also

increased from one in the 1970s to 22 public and 23 private universities presently

The number of student seeking Post graduate training have also increased greatly

For example, in 2011, the population of

Postgraduate students was 3,716 This increased to 5,218 in 2012 Presently (2013) the population of

Postgraduate students is 7,109 And because of the introduction of Free

Primary Education by the NARC Government this will double in the near future

The University of Nairobi, Requirement for

study was for Course work, Research and Thesis

Or Course work, and Project A student was supposed to stay in contact

with the Lecturer every month and to give a progress report every semester.

Despite the increased intake of Post Graduate

students the regulations remain more or less the same.

The ratio of student to Lecturer has increased greatly

It is presently difficult for a lecturer to stay in conduct with all their postgraduate students and effectively guide the students Research

In the 70s and 80s, one supervisor could

have one or two postgraduate students In the 1990s or 2000, it was two or three Now some lecturers have up to 7 Research

and thesis students plus 50 project students But the same lecturers are required to teach

THREE units each semester sometimes with very large classes

The development of some E-supervision in

some areas have helped Introduction of Internet has helped

submission of and communication electronically

This has helped in IBP, Regular and ODeL programs

But there are cases where Quality can be compromised.

To co-ordinate postgraduate programs in all

schools Quality Assurance and Quality control of all

postgraduate programs Development of appropriate instruments for

tracking and monitoring of students progress and Examinations

Consider recommendations for new programs

in schools and recommend to senate To explore ways of enabling postgraduate

students publish their work To solicit and allocate research and

scholarship funds to postgraduate students Search for innovative ways to further the

University mission on research and the National Vision 2030

There is no doubt we have challenges We must increase intake of postgraduate

students to meet our mandate But we lack space to accommodate them We lack facilities to enable them realize their

goals We also lack enough Lecturers to attend to

them

We need to learn from what other Universities around the word have done.

We ask ourselves, “Are we in the right direction?”

How do we Benchmark with other Universities around the world?

How do we solve our challenges? Are there any innovative ways of solving the

problem These are the Questions we need to share

with Catalan University.

THE END

THANK YOU