MPs give nod to first Kenyan virtual university

The first virtual university in Kenya has been approved by MPs, offering Kenyan students a low-cost alternative to the country’s traditional higher education system.
The first cohort of 7,100 distance learners will be able to enroll in the Open University of Kenya (OUK) after the National Assembly last week adopted the draft charter for the institution.
The Technical Committee on the Establishment of the Open University of Kenya stated in a report that “the fee students must pay for the identified programs should be between Ksh10,400 and Ksh10,900 per module based on the principle of affordability and in comparison to other open distance learning institutions.”
For the bachelor’s degrees in data science, economics and statistics, business and entrepreneurship, technology education, and cyber security and digital forensics, the price each module is Ksh10,400.
The Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Sciences and Technology will cost Ksh10,900 per module, according to expectations.
The estimated cost per year is Ksh130,000 for the two post-diploma courses—Diploma in Learning Design and Technology and Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Accountability—offered in the first year, according to the team.
A full-time student at the Open University of Kenya, which will have its headquarters at Konza Technopolis in Machakos, will enroll in between four and six modules overall.
The National Open University of Kenya and open, distance, and e-learning (ODEL) would be operationalized under the guidance of the Presidential Working Group on Education Reform, which President William Ruto established on30 September,2022.
On 9 January, 2023, a technical working group was formed to hasten the creation of the suggested university.
Open universities are created all around the world to increase options for continuing education, skill development, and in-service training.
According to the committee’s assessment, the institution will lower entry barriers for marginalized groups by being flexible with admissions requirements and systematically recognizing prior learning.
According to the report, which was adopted by the House before MPs left for a two-week break, taxpayers will spend Ksh1.86 billion to operate the online university in the first year.
According to the Presidential Working Group report, “a budget of Ksh1,855,664,819 has been proposed for the first year of operation of the OUK to cover the majority of the initial costs of setting up physical facilities, information communication technology and support, design, production, acquisition of learning/teaching materials, and learner support services.”
Compared to Kenya’s public universities, which account for 80% of the budget, the committee estimated that the planned Open University’s total staff pay would only make up 30% of the whole budget.
Most of the employees will work part-time, on a contract basis, or on a piece-rate basis.
According to the presidential task force’s report, “each of the 7,100 students envisaged for the first intake would have to pay Ksh156,582 for that fiscal year if the budget were to be covered exclusively by student fees. This is assuming that the development costs are amortized over a five-year period.”
“Postgraduate diploma courses are proposed to cost Ksh130,000 annually in tuition. The committee makes it clear that any growth in enrollment would not necessarily necessitate an equal rise in core personnel and fixed expenditures, allowing for the possibility that economies of scale will be realized after a few years once a sizeable number of students have registered,” according to the report.
In the first year of operation, the government is scheduled to fund all recurrent and development funds.
“The Committee is convinced that the investment in the Open University for Kenya is sound and timely,” the committee stated.
Since then, the committee has delivered to the Ministry of Education a draft charter, the Open University of Kenya Bill 2011, a proposal for the Open University of Kenya, and a strategy for the development of the OUK.