Title:
DEMAND DRIVEN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PROVISION: IMPLICATIONS FOR EQUITY AND QUALITY

Authors:
Samuel Wamalwa Munda

Abstract:
The established link between higher education attainment and individual socio-economic prosperity explains to a large extent the continued increase in private and social investment in education. It is the driver of growth in established higher education institutions and in the number of students enrolled. Many research reports on the status of education reveal the intensity in efforts to address issues underlying the poor quality of education. It is generally agreed that universities are entrusted with the task of generating knowledge of appropriate quality, and to making this knowledge availability to a wide population in order to support national economic competitiveness. But the issue of forces driving demand for higher education and their capacity to distort access to opportunities stand out. As nations endeavour to expand access to higher education, challenges of inadequate resource provision constrain access to opportunities for students with certain unique attributes. Overall national socio-economic development requires that education provision be inclusive to cover students with unique characteristics including the marginalised. Participation of those with attributes defined vulnerabilities should be a pre-requisite to quality assessments. This paper therefore examines university education demand trends in Kenya and how they related to students’ characteristics. Descriptive survey designs were used. A sample of 524 respondents was drawn from among the twenty-two public and eighteen private chartered universities. Data was analysed using frequency tables and percentages, and means; hypotheses were tested using ANOVA, with all statistical tests done at ?=0.05 level of significance. Results showed that overall demand for education was on the increase in public universities, but declining in private universities. Disparities in demand by gender were observed with more males accessing university places. Consequences of increased demand for university education included high workloads for lecturers, and congested facilities. These findings are important to educators, education planners, institution managers who are charged with devising mechanisms and processes that address issues of quality and equity in demand for university education.

Keywords:
Demand. Equity, Quality

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2024.7305

Date of Publication: 24-05-2024