| dc.description.abstract | Access to University education was for a long time a preserve of some selected few who
managed to pass highly the then Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education and now Kenya
Certificate of Secondary Education. The competitive nature of the examinations locked out
many candidates who qualified from pursuing University education. The emergence of
Private Universities has provided a reprieve that was long overdue. That is, for Students who
qualify but fail to get admission into Public Universities join Private Universities. However
concerns have been raised for example on characteristics of Students admitted and quality of
education provided. The purpose of the study was to explore the expansion of Private
Universities in Kenya and its implication on Student characteristics, access factors, quality
and completion rate. Objectives of the study were to: find out Student characteristics; find
out factors influencing access; determine the relationship between access factors and
enrollment; establish perceptions of stakeholders on quality of education provided and
determine completion rate for the 200712008 academic year cohort. The study population
consisted of 24 Academic Registrars (AR), 24 Deans of Students (DS), 24 Student Leaders
(SL), 3557 students and 792 lecturers. Saturated sampling was used to select 21 AR, 21 DS
and 21 SL. Stratified random sampling was used to select 1225 students and 148 lecturers.
The Production Function Theory was used to guide the study. Descriptive, ex-post-facto and
correlational research designs were adopted in the study. Questionnaires, In-depth Interview
Schedules and document analysis guide were used to collect data. Reliability of the
instruments was addressed through piloting in three Private Universities. The reliability
coefficient for students' questionnaire was 0.814, AR questionnaire was 0.845 and lecturers'
questionnaire was 0.781. Experts from the Department of Educational Foundations and
Management, Maseno University, were consulted to ascertain validity of instruments.
Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of frequency counts and
percentages and inferential statistics such as Pearson's r and Stepwise correlation and
regression. Qualitative data were analyzed using chisquare method and likert scale while
other qualitative data were analyzed for content in an on-going process as themes and subthemes
emerged. The study established that the minimum entry qualifications of students
admitted was a C+ in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, more females (58.23%)
than males (41.77%) were enrolled. Majorities (67.82%) of them were not married and most
Students (52.47%) were below 24 years of age. Most students were enrolled in the faculties
of education, business and computing science which accounted for over 70% of total
enrollment. Factors that influenced access were: Newspaper advertisements, reasonable cost
of the programmes, strict graduation schedules, University academic resources, and variety
of programmes, Pre-University programmes, and campus field trips by high school students,
high school visits by Universities' representatives, colourful graduation ceremonies,
television adverts and good public relations. Perception of stakeholders on quality of students
and students' evaluation was high; however, Quality of Physical facilities, teaching and
learning materials and administrative services were expressed as being low. Completion rate
was high (96.80%). The study concluded that students admitted met the University admission
requirements, factors that influenced access were mainly advertisements in the print and
electronic media, quality of education provided was low and completion rate was high. The
study recommended that Private Universities should improve on provision of physical
facilities, teaching and learning materials and administrative services. The fmdings of this
study are significant to Private Universities' management and Commission of Higher
Education in improvement of standards of Private Universities in Kenya. | en_US |
