Lecturers Face Layoffs as University of Nairobi Scraps More Courses

The University of Nairobi (UoN) plans to lay off more workers as part of its efforts to cut operating costs and stay afloat.

The institution announced a new plan to cut more courses in a move that will see some lecturers and non-teaching staff laid off.

“The university has decided to take drastic action to cut costs to ensure that the University of Nairobi is not removed from the map of Kenya. We must try as much as possible to live close to our means and improve our revenue,” UoN Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stephen Kiama told Business Daily.

Kiama says they will reduce the number of courses from the current 324 to focus more on engineering, medicine, and information technology. The university will also limit hiring to critical departments.  

“We were offering more than 500 courses but we cut these to 300 but we can still push them down. Senate is engaging to see which ones we continue to downsize so that we focus where we have a competitive edge as a university,” Prof Kiama said.

“We cannot just do what everybody else is doing, we must stick to where we know we are the best.”

The vice-chancellor did not name the courses that would be scrapped as part of a plan to cut operating costs. 

Last year, the Nairobi-based higher learning institution axed 250 units with law enrollment, while others had no applicants despite the university allocating funds for them.

The university also shut down eight satellite colleges last year, reducing its staff count to about 4,000. This resulted in a decrease in student population at the university from 70,515 in 2019 to 58,488 in the year to June last year.

The university is facing cash-flow problems, which has seen it default on statutory deductions such as pensions and tax for its employees, resulting in debts of over Sh34 billion.

These prompted Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to issue warnings, citing the possibility of asset seizures. The university’s financial woes are attributed to a decline in student enrolment, mismanagement, and low State funding.