UoN Chancellor warns of 'house on fire'

The University of Nairobi (UoN), long celebrated as Kenya’s premier institution of higher learning, is facing mounting challenges that threaten its reputation and stability.

In a candid address, top university officials acknowledged declining student enrollment, research output, financial instability, and internal governance struggles as key issues that require urgent intervention.

Speaking during the recognition and award ceremony for outstanding staff, the university’s Chancellor Prof Patrick Verkooijen painted a grim picture of the institution’s financial health, likening the crisis to a house on fire.

“The house is on fire. Symbolically speaking, the university has been burning from the inside. It has been cannibalising itself. A doubling of debts in two years — Sh20 billion,” he lamented.

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“Strengthening management-we need to have a substantive Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellors. The issues affecting universities are when many people are working in acting capacity,” he said.

Additionally, he pointed out that poor utilization of the university’s public land and inadequate student and staff services were significant hindrances.

“University hostels, students’ halls, staff housing, and digital services are not up to standard. We cannot function and rise without these services being improved,” he stressed.

Prof. Verkooijen called for a collective effort to restore UoN to its former glory.

“If there is a phoenix that can help us rise from the ashes, it is you—the academic and non-academic staff of this university. But since part of our growing debt is staff social insurance payments, this hampers service delivery,” he urged.

He outlined an eight-point reform agenda to turn the institution around, which includes strengthening governance and management, enhancing research and learning, eliminating debt, optimizing university assets, and mobilizing external resources.

 “We need to double down on learning and research. This is not a business but a university, and its core mandate must remain education and research,” he asserted.

UoN Council Chairman Prof Amukoa Anangwe noted that the university’s overall productivity was on a downward trend.

“Our standing as a premier institution is at stake, and we must collectively and actively reverse this trend,” he emphasized.

He cited several indicators of concern, including falling student completion rates, rising student complaints, and a decline in global rankings.

“Declining student enrolment affects our ability to fulfil our core mandate of learning, teaching and research including innovation and thereby denying the university revenue,” said Prof Anangwe.

Declining students’ completion rates has been blamed on the quality of support structures, high instinct of students complains which highlights gaps in service delivery and student engagement.

Decline in ranking adversely affects the institutions’ global competitiveness and reputation while decline in research output weakening its position as a leading research intensive institution.  

The council has identified performance management tools such as performance contracts as critical in restoring the institution’s reputation.

“Management tools must ensure that performance targets are realistic and aligned with available resources,” Prof Anangwe stated, adding that staff morale had been impacted by delayed promotions and unresolved human resource issues.

However, he assured that the council was addressing these concerns by clearing promotion backlogs and implementing HR reforms.

“Management tools must ensure that performance targets are realistic, focused and underline with available resources,” he stated.

 Additionally, he noted that measures had been put in place to secure staff pensions, ensuring that those who have served diligently retire with dignity.

“The council has made deliberate efforts to clear the backlog of staff promotion to ensure deserving individuals are recognized and rewarded,” he said.

Prof. Hutchinson reinforced the importance of performance appraisals and recognition in driving excellence.

“We need to deepen our recognition efforts, especially at the departmental level, to capture the full scope of contributions to the university,” she said.

She highlighted the university’s evaluation report for 2023/2024, which assessed 10 faculties, 63 teaching departments, and 13 central units.

“Internally, improved finance utilization and accountability, strengthening academic processes through secure exam platforms, enhancing staff accountability through performance improvement plan, and fostering a strong performance driven culture for the university,” she added.

While the assessment showed improvement—with 17 units achieving an excellence grade compared to four in the previous year—Prof. Hutchinson noted that challenges remain.

Among these are financial sustainability, accountability in academic processes, and staff engagement.

“We must explore innovative and diversified revenue streams to enhance the financial stability of our university. Internally, we need to improve financial utilization, strengthen academic processes, and foster a strong performance-driven culture,” she remarked.

Despite the challenges, there were also moments of celebration as top-performing faculties and departments were recognized. Among the best teaching departments were Food Science and Nutrition, Medical Microbiology, and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.