| dc.description.abstract | The demand for university education in Kenya continues to increase amidst
decreasing financial support to public universities from the government and
establishment of new private universities. The expanding enrolments were considered
a revenue stream for public universities and business opportunity to individual and
corporate investors in higher education. In the midst of this singular focus on revenues
by private and public universities, basic internal quality assurance processes were
ignored starting from admissions to academic processes in the institutions. There is
growing public perception that educational quality is being compromised in an effort
to expand enrollment in recent years. Against this background, the study set out to
establish perspectives on effectiveness of curriculum delivery processes, teaching and
research by faculty staff, management processes, availability and quality of learning
facilities for provision of quality education and quality of enrolled students in the
selected universities. The conceptual framework was based on the guidelines from
Commission for Higher Education and Association of African Universities. The study
population consisted of 52,141 students, 1,916 lecturers and 83 library staff. Stratified
random sampling technique was used to select 502 students, 127 lecturers and 23
library staff. The researcher used _questionnaires for students, lecturing staff and
library staff to collect information. Validity was established by presenting
questionnaires to experts in the Department of Educational Management and
Foundations at Maseno University for comments and improvements. Reliability was
established by piloting to 100 respondents from the four selected universities who
were not involved in the actual study. Quantitative data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages and inferential
statistics involving chi-square tests to establish the relationships of effectiveness of
the variables between the types of universities. The findings indicated that there was
no significant difference between the quality of enrolled students and effectiveness of
faculty members in performing their duties in Kenyan public and private universities.
However, there was significant difference between effectiveness of curriculum
delivery processes, availability and quality of learning facilities and effectiveness of
institutional management processes in Kenyan public and private universities. The
study concluded that there was no significant difference among private and public
universities on presage variables which defined the entry behavior of students.
However, significant differences existed among private and public universities on
process variables which related to what went on as students learnt. There were
efficiency gaps in quality assurance processes that needed careful attention. It was
recommended that the government should enhance compliance mechanisms to quality
assurance guidelines so as to eliminate efficiency gaps in institutional management,
provision of teaching and learning facilities and curriculum delivery processes. The
findings of this study are significant to individuals and organisations that intend to ensure that our universities offer quality education. | en_US |
