Private Universities could increase fees come next year citing course accreditation charges to be paid by each student annually to their different faculty agencies.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Commission for University Education (CUE) Chief Executive Officer David Some, said the payments were compulsory for quality-assurance.
"If they don't pay we don't quality-assure their programmes. And we shall pull down their programmes from our websites," Prof Some said.
The Kenya Association for Private Universities (KAPU) has written a memorandum to Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i, seeking a review of the need for multiple accrediting agencies which in turn increases fees.
"There are several professional accrediting agencies in Kenya today, for example Nursing Council of Kenya, Kenya Nutrition and Dietetics Institute and Legal Education Council. The multiplicity of accrediting bodies has brought conflicting guidelines, confusion and unnecessary waste of resources," KAPU said.
University students will now be required to pay Sh1,000 annually to CUE, Masters students in both Private and Public institution will pay Sh1,500 while PhD students part with Sh2,000 with postgraduate diploma students paying Sh800.
In the memorandum to the Education CS, KAPU stated that CUE should be the only licenced accrediting agency in order to synchronise the guidelines and prevent stalemates in Universities.
"In order to harmonise the work of different accrediting agencies, the private universities are recommending that the CUE fees be mandated as the only accrediting agency and to work with other professional accrediting agencies to accredit and audit academic programmes and facilities in universities," the memorandum read in part.
