Egerton Scraps 8 Courses
- Egerton Scraps 8 Courses. Eight degree courses at Egerton University will be eliminated because, according to the university administration, they have failed to draw students to the school recording a poor number.
In a meeting with staff on Tuesday, university Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Isaac Kibwage disclosed this.
Prof. Kibwage claimed that the action will be crucial in improving the institution’s financial stability while mitigating risks like repeated strikes.
In order to reorganize the university, Prof. Kibwage announced the cancellation of eight degree programs that had been hired instructors for but were unable to maintain a sufficient student body.
“The university has determined which eight degree programs we plan to discontinue. Unfortunately, lecturers and personnel in those departments will have to go,” he continued.
The VC claimed that during the past five years, a sufficient number of students have not been drawn to the programs.
One group that will be affected by the university’s anticipated layoffs is the employees at the departments, including the professors.
The action aims to control the excessive pay at the institution, which has been experiencing financial difficulties.
The following programs, according to the school, failed to draw a quorum of 15 students in the previous five years:
- Bachelor of Industrial Technology,
- Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering,
- Bachelor Of Science (soil, environment and land use management) ,
- Bachelor Of Science (Dairy Technology and Management).
- Bachelor Of Science (Wildlife management and enterprise),
- Bachelor Of Science ( Intergrated forest resource management),
- Bachelor Of Science (dairy land resources management) and
- Bachelor Of Science ( in applied aquatic science).
In his speech, Prof. Kibwage also disclosed that the university would lay off other employees in order to survive.
The VC claims that the academic staff accounts for the majority of the salary bill, taking home Sh135 million every month, followed by the non-teaching KUSU and KUDHEIHA, who each receive Sh93 million and Sh16.5 million.
According to reports, the management spends Sh3.5 million every month on salaries.
The institution is battling to meet its huge payroll bill of more over Sh200 million and to pay off a debt of Sh9 billion while simultaneously enduring its biggest financial crisis in history.
Prof. Kibwage stated that the institution had sent out a notification to declare some of the positions redundant in order to reduce the wage bill during a recent meeting with journalists.
“The government provides us with Sh185 million each month, and we generate an average of Sh26 million through fees each month. Our inability to completely pay personnel salaries is due to this against a payroll of Sh240 million. They must comprehend the situation and refrain from putting down their instruments, said Prof. Kibwage.
When Egerton University struggled to sustain its activities because of a lack of funding, its debt load grew and reached Sh9 billion by last year. By June 2022, all unpaid bills were included in the debt.
The Njoro-based campus is funded by the exchequer, and in the current fiscal year, Egerton’s yearly budget was limited by the government to Sh3.7 billion, when it should have been Sh5 billion, resulting in a Sh1.3 billion deficit.
The campus had a debt of Sh6 billion as of 2019, but when the pandemic hit in 2020, the debt nearly doubled as the administration of the Njoro-based school desperately tried to save the sinking institution from the previous administration with little success.
Even the newly installed administration of President William Ruto doesn’t seem to offer the institution much optimism for prolonging the rescue strategy, which has seen the school cut the pay of the lecturers by 40% to keep it afloat.