INTEGRATED STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND PERFORMANCES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Abstract

Transforming higher education institutions in Kenya using modern paradigm is a dream yet to be realized in Kenya. However, the World Bank economic update indicates that ICT sector in Kenya has outperformed all other sector of the economy, growing by 20 percent annually and propelling Kenyan economy to the second largest in Africa. This in turn creates an opportunity for universities to ride on this wave and increase their research output. The Kenya vision 2030 identifies science, technology and innovation as one of the six foundations for socio – economic growth and transformation. The national university strategy recognizes that information and communication technology infrastructure is one of the four pillars of emerging knowledge economy and that ICT infrastructure is essential for achieving increased quality of university education. This raises questions on the effectiveness of integrated strategic management that universities purport to practice. In addition, there is limited literature regarding the level of adoption of integrated strategic management, the factors that contribute to the implementation of strategic management, the challenges faced during implementation and the outcome of this practice. Moreover, it is not clear on how the practice of integrated strategic management has impacted on the performance of public universities in Kenya.