East African Higher Education and the limitations of institutional reforms: A case study of selected public universities

Abstract

Globally, universities are engaged in various aspects of reforms to improve their outlook and relevance. In East Africa, despite the similarities in many dimensions of socio-economic conditions, universities vary in terms of focus and extent of engagement in educational reforms. In order to examine this phenomenon more closely, three purposely-selected East African public universities were studied. Analysis of related documents as complemented by responses from key officials of these institutions revealed several findings: the University of Dar es Salaam’s reforms seemed to conform more to characteristics of competitiveness-driven reforms, the University of Nairobi exhibits equity-driven reform, and Makerere University practises finance-driven reforms. Furthermore, the findings register limitations of effective institutional reforms such as massification of higher education, infringement of university autonomy, emerging technologies, paradox of internationalization, and the incapacity to cater to holistic students’ welfare. The study concluded that, despite the myriad of limitations that the universities face, they have numerous opportunities which if efficiently utilized will enable them run the higher education race more triumphantly. The paper recommends that strategies for reforms should not derail the universities from their mandate to serve their respective countries.