Evans Wafula, AfricaNews contributor in Nairobi, Kenya Photo: Mt. Kenya University Pro - Chancellor Prof. George Eshiwani (r) and Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stanley Waudo admires a copy of the journal
African universities have been urged to work together with the private sector to better the quality of academic research and innovation in the continent. Mount Kenya University Pro-Chancellor; Prof George Eshiwani has called on the private sector to invest in human capacity through innovation and research by collaborating with local universities.
“Research is so fundamentally important that it requires support from both private and public sectors,” Professor Eshiwani said.
Perhaps the call for collaboration between universities and private sector is seen as a radical policy change from past stand where the government encouraged cost-sharing in education, the government designated the task of building and equipping institutions to a limited private few.
The introduction of parallel degree programmes in public universities has enhanced the quality of human capacity that is needed in the private sector.
By publishing the internationally peer reviewed academic journal, the International Journal of Business and Public Management (IJBPM), the university joins the ranks that will invest heavily in research and innovation.
Professor Eshiwani urged for increased participation by the private sector in order to provide information that is necessary for problem solving and useful for making discoveries, innovations, inventions and policy formulation that is critical in the development of the continent.
“Investment in research from the private sector is crucial for a sustained effective research culture,” he said while presiding over the first Biennial International Conference for the Advancement of Business and Management Practice in Africa held in Nairobi, Kenya.
This comes at a backdrop of government’s sustained move to introduce legal and policy reforms which will see the Commission for Higher Education empowered to inspect public universities and monitor quality.
It’s proposed that the legal framework governing public universities will be reviewed to streamline their operations and allow them to administer flexible academic programmes.
“This will allow the student to manage their own programme and even enable them to make transfers from one institution to another”. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Prof Karega Mutai told Africa News. He also encouraged universities to raise their own funds through research and avoid being dependent on government funding.
However, the government is dealing with a staggering 11.2 billion to enable the universities to clear their outstanding bills that mostly cover debts arising from stalled constructions since the late 1980s and early 1990s when universities were faced with endemic corruption and mismanagement.
Professor Eshiwani also called for Competitiveness and increased ability to translate knowledge into products and goods in order for Kenya to realize Vision 2030.
Other scholars and cooperate manager challenged at the conference challenged the government to be part of the digital divide and support the expansion of Information Technology training in schools to prepare the youth for higher education and employment.
