Deputy President William Ruto's Doctorate degree in Plant Ecology is among the 40 courses set to be scrapped off by the University of Nairobi following the Ministry of Education reforms plan that is now being effected.
A confidential document seen by the Sunday Standard shows that some of the courses at the university had not attracted any students for the last five years.
The courses cut across certificates, diploma, bachelors, masters and PhD. The most-affected courses are from agriculture, mathematics, population studies and research institute, nursing science, translation and interpretation, biological sciences, African women studies, arts, institute of anthropology, gender and African studies and physical sciences.
“Consequently, the university has undertaken to rationalize programs and review or revise curricula to comply with the Commission for University Education (CUE) standards and guidelines,” reads the document.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha gave universities two weeks to make tough decisions on staff and programs rationalization.
The Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Nairobi will drop the PhD in Agriculture .Three programs in the School of Mathematics have also been listed for scrapping. These are BSc in Industrial Mathematics, PhD in Applied Statistics and PhD in Mathematics.
A total of nine courses will be scrapped at the School of Biological Sciences, including three courses under Open Distance and e-Learning (OdeL). These are BSc in Microbiology and Biotechnology, BSc in Biology, BSc in Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources Management.
Others are MSc in Agriculture Entomology, MSc in Medical and Veterinary Entomology, PhD in Applied Microbiology, PhD in Plant Ecology, PhD in Terrestrial Plant Ecology and PhD in Aquatic Plant Ecology. At the School of Physical Sciences, a total of 17 courses will be scrapped, including the Certificate in Chemistry.
BSc in Chemistry, Bachelor of Science, BSc in Environmental Geoscience (code 117 and 127), and Postgraduate Diploma in Environment and Natural Disaster Management will be scrapped.
More that have been listed for the cut are BSc in Microprocessor Technology and Instrumentation, BSc in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Bachelor of Science (atmospheric science) and PhD in Environmental Chemistry .
Others are four masters programs; Master of Science in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry, Master of Science in Pure Chemistry, Master of Science in Inorganic Chemistry and Master of Science in Organic Chemistry.
BSc in Environmental Chemistry (code 143 and code 143m3) have also been listed for the scrapping.
In the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies, three postgraduate diploma courses will be scrapped.
These are postgraduate Diploma in Cultural Studies, postgraduate Diploma in Heritage Management and postgraduate Diploma in Gender and Development Studies.
Seven courses in the Faculty of Arts will also be scrapped. Diploma in Water Resources Management, Diploma in Strategic and Security Studies, post graduate Diploma in Labour Relations, postgraduate Diploma in Armed Conflicts, postgraduate Diploma in Advance Disaster and postgraduate Diploma in Security Studies will be dropped.
These cuts will also affect staff who taught the programs.
Among the CUE reform guidelines are how to trim the available staff and align academic programs.
“It is still my strong belief that universities must consider right-sizing and down-sizing of staff to ensure proper staffing norms,” directed Prof Magoha.
The Education CS also asked the public universities vice chancellors to recommend which of their universities and constituent colleges should be merged or shut down in the major reforms plan.
