A Study On The Reform And Development Of Tertiary Education In Kenya In The Process Of Massification

The massification of tertiary education is an inevitable trend.Tertiary education in many African countries,including Kenya,has entered the stage of massification.Since Kenya’s tertiary education stepped into the stage of massification in the 1980 s,with the growth of Kenya’s population,the soaring social demand for tertiary education,and the massification of its primary and secondary education,the level of Kenya’s massification in higher education has gradually increased,which is reflected by the surge in enrollment in tertiary education and the growth in tertiary education institutions.In order to achieve a better balance between the enrollment and the numbers of institutions,and to achieve higher quality massification in tertiary education in Kenya,a series of reforms and improvements has been practiced since the start of massification of tertiary education.New institutions to manage tertiary education have been established and funding system has been transformed and reformed.Kenya also take measures to repair and build educational infrastructure,train a sufficient number of qualified teachers,improve the educational quality and establish the system to assure it,and develop open and distance education,expand opportunities for disadvantaged groups to access education.Through the reform and development,the massification of tertiary education has born some fruits.Both the numbers of enrollment and institutions rapidly increase,income for universities comes from various ways,and educational inequities are alleviated.Nevertheless,Kenyan tertiary education still faces difficulties and challenges in the process of massification,such as the imperfect management system,unbalanced structure,shortage in funding,insufficient quality,slow development in open and distance education,and unfairness in education.But in China,massification of tertiary education started at the turn of the century,and then relied on the state which mobilizes and deploys national forces to provide policy and strategic support and material guarantee for a large-scale expansion of it.Also,the government promotes higher vocational education as well as adult higher education to build up more world-class universities and disciplines and equally promote the development of both elite and mass education.China continues to promote the improvement of curriculum quality through the construction of educational infrastructure,the training of high-quality teachers,and the use of information-based teaching models.The government dedicates to solve the problem of uneven and unbalanced development of tertiary education among regions and among student groups.The massification of higher education in China is fast and of high quality.It’s development and the reform measures applied may give some ideas to Kenya for fast and quality massification in tertiary education.