Academic Staff and Students’ views on Quality Education Indicators in Selected Private universities in Kenya.

Abstract

The demand for higher education has led the Kenyan government to encourage and grant charter to several private universities. These universities absorb qualified students who could not be admitted by the then Joint Admission Board of public universities. Therefore in recent years, there has been an increase of students’ enrollment in private universities which may mean that parents and students have observed quality education indicators in these institutions. In effect, there is need to establish the views that staff and students have on the indicators of quality education in selected private institutions in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to assess views of academic staff and the students on the indicators of quality education. The study utilized a descriptive survey research design. The study population was 2500 that included both the academic staff and students (third years and fourth years). From this population, a sample of 320 respondents was used to collect data which included the teaching staff and students of the selected universities. The respondents were sampled using purposive, stratified, and simple random techniques. Closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data. Data was presented using tables, frequencies and percentages. The findings revealed that the key indicators of quality in private universities were excellent job performance of graduates in their place of work, comprehensive course content coverage, quality test assessments and evaluations, students’ involvement in research, completion of course in good time and a job market oriented course. It is recommended that private universities put in place parameters or indicators of quality that apply across the board so that any institution aspiring to offer higher education will benchmark itself