KCA University deputy vice chancellor in charge of academic affairs, Dr Rosemary Maina (right), with Prof Noah Midamba, a consultant at the university, at a past function. Photo/COURTESY
The battle between universities for Kenyan managers is set to intensify with the entry of Kenya College of Accountancy University into the bulging Masters in Business Administration (MBA) market.
KCA plans to enrol the first batch of students next month for its Corporate MBA programme as it seeks to tap into the growing number of professionals trooping back to universities for courses that can cushion them against uncertainties in a changing labour market.
The institution becomes the latest entrant into the MBA market which has become a key income stream for universities in a trend that has seen them spend millions of shillings to roll out such courses.
It will be fighting for students with Strathmore Business School (SBS), which offers an executive MBA as well as other institutions in this niche market
The University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs Dr Rosemary Maina said the course is exclusive to professionals holding managerial jobs.
“As opposed to other universities keen on specialization in various fields, we are going for an all round training where students will have to learn all disciplines,” Dr Maina told Business Daily.
Students will be expected to conduct research before they can graduate.
The findings will have to be published in a known peer review journal either locally or internationally.
This according to Dr Maina is meant to encourage in-depth study on various aspects of management such as corporate governance.
KCA has opted for small classes — enrolling 30 students per semester — wary of the pressure of having big intakes which is said to be compromising the quality of graduates coming from Kenyan universities.
As many of the nation’s workers rush to take up additional qualifications, business schools have been caught up in an enrolment fix.
They have to choose between keeping the classes small and missing out on the revenue potential they could get from enrolling more students or enlarging the classes.
According to Dr Maina, students will pay at least Sh430,000 for the 18 month course.
Tuition fees have been on the rise, doubling from an average of Sh200,000 in 2000 to Sh400,000 currently in most universities.
Human resource experts attribute this back-to-school wave to a desire by workers to grow in their careers and improve earnings in a labour market characterised by a stagnation of salaries and increasing demand by employers for specialised skills.
“That an MBA graduate is more competitive in the job market is a fact,” said Ms Susan Nyamu, a management consultant with a Nairobi recruitment firm. “Going to a business school seems to be one of the surest ways for a worker to boost their marketability and expand their job options,” she said.
Better salaries
The argument is that post-MBA salaries are on the rise in most Kenyan firms, acting as a big push-factor for employees whose counterparts have benefited.
A survey released last month by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that there has been a rise in demand for better salaries in all sectors of the economy, citing improved skills and the impact of inflationary pressure on workers’ income.
The 2009 PwC National Human Resources Survey said that this pressure for salaries was expected to have a big implication on firms both in terms of profit performance and operating costs.
The roll-out of the KCA course is further expected to increase the rising number of MBA graduates in Kenya’s labour market.
Over the past three years, Kenyan universities have been churning out an average of 2,000 MBA graduates annually up from an average of 400 in 2003, statistics from the institutions show.
Statistics from Strathmore indicate that the Executive MBA programme — launched three years ago, is its most popular and remains fully subscribed.
Officials at the Madaraka- based institution said they admit two classes annually, one of 30 and another of 38 students.
At the United States International University School of Business, MBA enrolment has been on a sharp rise over the last five years, jumping from 730 in 2003 to 1,264 students in 2008.
The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) --which says its three-year-old MBA programme focuses on small classes — admitted 60 in 2006 and slightly raised the number to 75 in 2007.
A rapid growth in the student population has left education entrepreneurs with no option but to set up campuses in the major towns to cater for those who work and study part-time.
But even this is not without its challenges.
The dilemma many of these institutions face is how to balance operational costs versus the income as opposed to being out of town where costs are low but you lose out on numbers.
“We must come up with new financing streams to cope with the demand for education service,” said Dr Maina. “Financing expansion is emerging as the biggest challenge to Kenyan universities” Educationists say failure to push through new financing solutions that could help the universities develop facilities promises to throw the sub-sector into an admission crisis.
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