Factors that influence performance of foreign owned private universities in Kenya

Abstract

This research set out to find out the factors that affect the performance of foreign owned private universities in Kenya. At the time of starting the survey four such institutions had been identified for purposes of the survey. These were, Aga Khan University, Catholic University Of Eastern Africa, Daystar University and United States International University. In the course of collecting raw data, it was established that two of the universities even though once were foreign investments, are no longer foreign owned. These are, Daystar University and United States International University. The research was however still relevant to the two universities as they were initially foreign owned. Data was collected through interviews with senior university officials from three of the universities. Officials from the forth university declined to take part in the study. The researcher therefore relied on information from the university's strategic plan. The results of the study indicate that location on Kenya was largely influenced by a stable political and social climate, existence of a high demand for tertiary education, a desire to serve the community and to support government initiative in raising the standards of living. These same factors have also continued to positively influence the performance of the universities. Other supporting factors are the ability of the universities to be financially self sufficient. Finances are mainly from the fee payment, any foreign grants usually end up as bursary· payments for the less financially able students. Student loans granted by the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and the Government waiver on VAT on construction materials are other factors that have positively influenced performance of the university. Factors identified to be hindering or negatively affecting performance of Foreign owned private universities include, lack of proper infrastructure such as roads and ICT connectivity, lack of government policy regarding private university education as a whole, lack of any funding from the Ministry of Education to facilitate research and the travel advisories issued against Kenya tends to interfere with the universities exchange programs. This research had several limitations. These include; the unavailability of the topmost university officials to handle some of the questions especially regarding location decisions, the sensitivity or secrecy surrounding financial information, suspicion by a few officials as to why a public university student was investigating performance of private universities and the outright refusal by officials in one of the universities to take part in the research. The researcher recommends further research into the reasons that lead to once foreign owned universities ending up being Self owned or locally owned. Further research should also be carried out to establish the factors affecting performance of locally owned as well as the church owned private universities in Kenya.