University Education and Transformation of Modern Africa: The Case of Teaching and Training Students in Kenyan Universities

Abstract

From the colonial era, university education in modern africa has been held in high esteem .It has been designed and practiced as an elitist, exclusive and special form of education intended for the selected few in the society. The emphasis in this form of education has been on academic development at the expense of other aspects of education like technical and vocational education. The focus has been on preparation and production of skilled man-power to foster the desired development in this continent (Ominde, 1965). However, for university education to efficiently and effectively play this role of development in modern africa, it must be properly managed including the process of competent teaching and training of students at university level. This is the focus of the present paper that is designed to examine strategies of administering university education in modern africa and especially in Kenya. That is whether these are facilitative enough in preparation and production of graduates who can promote the transformation of this continent. Specifically, the paper discusses the nature of university education; the need and role of this form of education in the development of modern africa; the adopted principles and practices of administering university education in africa and especially modern Kenya; the required facilitation for conducting efficient teaching and training of university students in modern africa to play the facilitative role of developing the continents; the challenges of teaching and training university students to play their expected roles in the development agenda of this continent and especially Kenya and, the preferred approach and/or best strategies of preparing university students to promote the transformation/modernization of the african continent and especially modern Kenya.