The government of Kenya is calling on private universities to enroll government-sponsored students in a bid to increase access to higher education.

Tertiary Education in Kenya has been hampered and limited by space in public universities making it a preserve to the rich who can afford to pay for the expensive private universities.
 
Higher Education Minister William Ruto asked for a partnership between the private and public tertiary institutions, saying it could result to a double intake of the government-sponsored students which currently stands at 24,000 per year.

The minister said that the private university students should be sponsored by government so as to cut the unit cost of courses offered the university and that the private universities should accept students sponsored by government. He said that this will offer Kenyans great access to university education.

"We can begin to discuss the possibility of bringing on board private universities in the provision of government sponsored university education", he said

Ms Freida A. Brown, who is the vice chancellor of United States International University(USIU),said that the government should finance higher education and called for the harmonization of the university bills.

She said the universities are facing various challenges like poor staffing, increased competitions among universities ,among others, in their day to day operations. 

"If private universities can match the unit cost of courses that are paid for by the government in public universities then there is no reason why they should not accept government-sponsored students." She added
 
"We could easily double the intake next year if we could utilise the extra capacity we have in our private universities."
 
Government-sponsored students currently pay an average of Sh35,000 annually for both tuition and accommodation as the government foots most of the tuition bill.
 
While the minimum qualification for university enrolment is a C+ at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam, most students are locked out of the government programme owing to the constraints of bed and tuition capacity in public universities.

  In the meantime the Minister said various colleges were rushing to the Ministry in a bid to comply with the stringent requirements after he issued a 21 day closure ultimatum a week ago. Mr Ruto said that there will be no exemptions on the requirements or extension of time for institutions.
 
"Many of them have written letters to us and tried to meet some of the requirements but when the deadline comes and they have not met the requirements we will close down those institutions," he said.

Higher Education Minister William Ruto has today issued an ultimatum to the colleges which has been operating illegally in the country even as the deadline nears.

He said that there is need to save parents from paying school fees to these institutions which are purporting to proving quality education. He said that the certificates from these collages cannot be recognized by any prospective employer  because the college itself is not recognized by the government.