Financing higher education in Africa: The case of Kenya

Abstract

Demand for tertiary education in Kenya has significantly increased and continues to swell
against the backdrop of insufficient funding thus affecting the quality of teaching and learning.
The population of the tertiary education age group in the country (between 18 and 25 years)
was 6.9 million in 2019 representing 3 per cent share of the total population. This calls for a
review of the higher education spending in order to prioritise providing equitable opportunities
for training this critical category that is expected to contribute towards national growth and
competitiveness. This paper discusses the status of financing higher education in Kenya and
points to developments that have been achieved by the subsector amid the challenges of
insufficient funding.