Fear has gripped the University of Nairobi (UoN) administration after the Ministry of Education, led by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, slashed the institution’s annual funding by Sh1.7 Billion.
In a move said to have been informed by the introduction of the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) by the ministry, funding to UoN will be slashed from Sh6.2 Billion in the last financial year to Sh4.5 billion in the 2017/18 financial year.
According to a report analysing the risk UoN is now staring at, the move which came as a surprise could plunge the institution into a financial crisis leading to massive staff layoffs and disruption of core university programmes.
"The implementation of the DUC will impact on university budget since it was carried out without university involvement as previously agreed. Further, the figures used in calculating the DUC did not take into account the university's input," reads the report.
The report adds: "The implication will be inability to fund critical programmes, for example, staff costs which amount to Sh770 million monthly. There is bound to be a shortfall of Sh392 million, thanks to this reduction. This amount would cater for staff costs."
The new DUC rule set to be implemented starting July will ensure funding to public universities is based on the cost of running academic programmes with respect to the number of students enrolled in each programme.
The Sh1.7 billion annual shortfall Nairobi University is set to face translates to Sh142 Million monthly.
