Nairobi's Moi Avenue all the way from the intersection with Haile Selassie Avenue to University is dotted with close to 15 University campuses. These are just a few of more than 30 satellite campuses that are situated in Nairobi within the CBD. These campuses are either branches of major public and private universities or mid-level colleges affiliated to and offering degree and diploma courses by the main universities.

The sight of such schools and colleges is not unique to Nairobi. Their signs light up commercial buildings in all major cities like fireflies around a swamp in the early evening. Most of the people who attend these colleges are people in employment seeking to attain their first bachelor's degree.

Demand for higher education

Out of 411,783 candidates who sat for the 2011 KCSE, 119,658 scored C+ and above hence qualified for university admission. Due to space constraints in Kenyan public universities, only 41, 000 will be admitted on government sponsored programs out of the lot. This leaves 65.73% of qualified graduates struggling to find a way into the demanding job market, and the progressing society.

A number of private universities in the country and provisions by public universities to offer privately-sponsored programs have gone a long way to address the issue. This has given opportunities to even those candidates who did not initially meet the C+ cut off mark to upgrade their education through diploma and then degree levels.

Quality compromise

Public universities have in the past come under fire for commercializing higher education by focusing too much on parallel programs as a source of income, thereby neglecting regular program students. Lecturers allegedly fore-go regular classes to cash in on the part time assignments around town. However, according to a lecturer in one of the colleges in town, there is a compromise in the quality of education offered in the universities, both main and the affiliate schools.

"The money aspect compromises the quality of education offered in our universities as you will find that in most cases, lecturers and tutors in the affiliate schools also teach other programs in the main schools," the lecturer, who sought anonymity said. "Most of the classes in the affiliate colleges take place in the evening, with students coming from work, therefore very little learning and research takes place." He added.

The affordability of degree programs offered by public university parallel programs as opposed to private universities have led to thriving of these affiliate colleges, he says. On average, an arts degree program costs KES 55,000 per semester on average while the same costs about KES 80, 000 in private universities.