Why university VCs need to speak with one voice

Vice-chancellors (VCs) play a pivotal role in shaping the direction and success of the universities they lead. As chief executives, they are responsible for providing visionary leadership, managing academic programmes, and ensuring financial sustainability. Typically, VCs in any country, have a platform, the Vice-Chancellors Forum, which brings them together.

In the dynamic world of higher education, the forum plays a critical role in shaping the future of universities. These gatherings of the highest-ranking officials from universities provide a platform to discuss pressing issues, share experiences, benchmark on matters, and strengthen collaboration on a strategic level.

However, in Kenya, the existence of separate VC forums for public and private universities, though they are governed by the same law — the 2012 Universities Act — has raised concerns about the fragmentation of the higher education sector and its impact on policy implementation, resource allocation, and quality assurance.

The separation of VC forums, has resulted in several challenges that may have weakened the higher education sector as a whole.
One of the most significant issues has been the fragmentation of the sector. With two separate forums, there has been a lack of a unified voice when advocating for national education policies. Though public and private universities often face different challenges and operate under different models, leading to distinct agendas, this disconnection has made it difficult to address sector-wide issues collectively, hence weakening the collective bargaining and influence of the higher education sector.

The division has also posed challenges in policy implementation. The Universities Act is meant to regulate all universities uniformly. Having separate forums has led to inconsistent interpretations and applications of the Act. This has resulted in discrepancies in how policies have been implemented across public and private institutions. During my tenure as a VC of a private university, I witnessed policy bias when government bodies chose to engage more with the VC forum of public universities than with the private-universities one, leading to inequality in the higher education system.

The impact on quality assurance has also been significant. Having separate forums has resulted in differing standards of quality assurance between public and private universities, affecting the overall quality of higher education. Harmonising standards across the sector has become more challenging when institutions operate in silos, potentially leading to discrepancies in educational outcomes.

In addition, the division has limited opportunities for collaboration and innovation. A unified VCs forum could enhance synergy between the two divides, allowing them to leverage each other’s strengths. Having separate forums, on the other hand, has reduced the potential for such synergies to develop, hindering innovation and the sharing of best practices across the sector.

The challenges posed by having separate VC forums has extended to national priorities as well. Issues such as access to education, employability of graduates, and national development goals often require a coordinated approach across the entire higher education sector. Separate forums have made it hard to tackle these national priorities in a unified and effective manner, potentially widening divides between public and private universities and leading to polarisation within the sector.

In terms of governance and leadership, having separate forums has had limited opportunities for cross-learning and mentorship between leaders in different types of institutions. A unified forum could provide valuable opportunities for them to learn from each other. Many a times, attempts to have consultative joint meetings for the two forums have been fruitless. At such times, the public-universities VC forum has behaved in a manner likely to suggest that their private counterpart was inferior,

While having separate VC forums for public and private universities may address specific needs within each sector, the challenges posed by this division cannot be ignored. A more unified approach could strengthen the higher education sector, ensuring that all universities, regardless of their ownership, can collaborate effectively, advocate for their needs, and contribute to national development goals.

— The writer is a Professor of physical chemistry at the University of Eldoret