As part of the ongoing exciting reforms in the education sector, the prestige of university degrees will be reinstated beginning this September.

This will involve a radical review of entry requirements to public universities to ensure only the country’s crème de la crème can access the hallowed ivory towers of academia.

The process of giving back a degree the aura of novelty and respect that it commanded in the 1980s and 90s will, however, take longer, and the full objective will be realised in a decade or two.

Impeachable sources say that the degree restoration programme was necessitated by concerns that the highest academic qualification had, in recent years, lost its value because every Tom, Dick and Harry now holds it.“Every Wanjiku, Mutua and Nekesa from any village and slum can now think that they can obtain it just by working hard at school. That’s not how you should obtain a degree,” said a source who is close to the council of a public university.

He said that during a public participation forum, a majority of Kenyans waxed nostalgic about the good old days when degree holders were few and far between.

For that reason, the rarefied fellows were not only held in high esteem by everyone, they also felt and acted special.
“Those were the good old days when a village was lucky to have one university degree holder. Having two would necessitate a scientific study to determine whether the rare phenomenon was caused by the water the villagers drank or the food they ate,” the source observed.

After long and wide consultations with all the stakeholders, a resolution was reached that the only way to enable degrees reclaim their importance is to tighten entry requirements.

While Grade C+ (Plus) has been the minimum grade for entry into university, this will now have to change to restore the respect for degrees.

“The report says that the current cut-off grade was literally cheapening degrees. To address this problem, a new cut-off grade has been introduced beginning this September,” said the source.
According to the source, one will now be required to attain at least Grade R or, its equivalent W, before being allowed to join a public university.

“Grade R stands for ‘Rich’ while Grade W denotes ‘Wealth’,” our impeachable source explained, adding that the new cut-off points will be seven digits, meaning you must have millions of shillings to start and complete a university degree.

He said the new grading system was borrowed from the best global practices, including local and international private universities where the requirements have been applied for years.With the new cut-off points, he said, university degrees will regain their honour and prestige, while holders will once again stand out in a crowd.“Besides, employers will, like in the past, be chasing after the few graduates meaning a tarmacking degree holder will become a misnomer,” he explained.

The new grading system, according to another impeachable source, will ensure that there are enough people to work in the government’s grand housing programme.
“Form Four leavers who do not attain Grade Rich or Wealth will find mjengo jobs waiting for them,” the source revealed.
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