Regulation on PhD-only lecturers to be dropped

The university regulator will drop requirements demanding that only PhDs teach in universities from 2019 due to a small pool of professors.

Commission for University Education (CUE) chairman Chacha Nyaigoti Chacha said the regulation is not tenable and realistic.

“We do not want to set regulations that will create a race so that universities rush to create fake doctorate degrees in order to beat the deadline,” said Prof Chacha.

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In 2014, the regulator gave universities five years to implement the rule demanding PhD lecturers.

Lecturers with master’s degrees were reduced to tutorial or junior research fellows, commonly referred to as teaching assistants.

The CUE data show that more than half of the country’s 10,350 lecturers do not have PhDs and that 4,394 students or one per cent of the total population of learners are enrolled for doctoral degrees, making it difficult to  implement the fresh guidelines.

A report on university audit released in February highlighted delays in student progression, especially at postgraduate level.

“For example, a student took 11 years to graduate with a PhD and others took between 9-14 years to graduate with a master’s degree,” added the report.

Another  report by CUE released last year revealed that half of PhD students and 20 per cent of those enrolled for Masters degrees in public universities dropped  out.

Prof Chacha said the quality education should be on top of agenda of all universities across the country.

“A person with a doctorate degree with no quality is not important. The CUE and universities are focused at ensuring that Kenyans get quality education in order attract students from outside Kenya,” said Prof Chacha.