University Education Liberalization Process and Challenges in Kenya: Options for Strategic Planning and Management.

Abstract

Worldwide, higher education is undergoing major changes in its structure and organization. Kenyan universities are benchmarking with top universities in the world, struggling very hard to compete for limited resources. This transformation in combination with a growing demand for continuing professional education and strengthened demands by employers for tailored education and training has caused significant shifts in higher education. “Doing more with less” and “doing things smarter” are becoming fashionable guiding principles in university management and governance. Globalization is identified as a fundamentally important 'driver' of these educational reforms that cut a cross at both the local and international levels. University managers are therefore compelled to assume new roles for which the past had not prepared them for, while they are expected to perform and deliver in a competitive and complex working environment. This paper argues that these challenges require a new approach of strategic planning and management to keep pace with the changing globalization and liberalization of University Education. This will ascertain quality of university education that may be compromised in the process. Furthermore, universities would have an opportunity to reposition themselves as distinct academic entities in order to reap global opportunities without inhibiting economic growth, slowing down poverty reduction and undermining the civil society.