University transition demands urgent collaboration and clear leadership

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Kenya’s education system is on the cusp of a major transition. The first cohort of learners under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is preparing to exit high school in the near future, and with that comes a critical challenge: Ensuring their smooth and meaningful entry into university. This moment demands not just preparation, but a new level of coordination, foresight, and collaboration among key stakeholders — particularly the school Boards of Management (BoMs), the Commission for University Education (CUE), and public universities.

The CBC is more than a shift in curriculum. It represents a complete rethinking of how learning is delivered, measured, and connected to the real world. It prizes competence over memorisation, creativity over conformity, and adaptability over repetition. Learners coming through the CBC system are fundamentally different in the way they think, engage, and explore knowledge. If universities do not evolve accordingly, the disconnect between their current teaching methods and the CBC learner’s expectations could be both frustrating and detrimental.

School Boards of Management, despite their localised operational scope, hold a national responsibility in this transition. Their role in steering the CBC’s implementation at the school level has been significant. They are tasked with resource mobilisation, infrastructure enhancement, and supporting teachers in navigating this new educational model. As such, they are directly shaping the quality and orientation of students that universities will eventually receive. These boards must now begin engaging with universities and national agencies to ensure continuity in student experience and academic expectations.

At the centre of the higher education system stands the CUE, a body whose leadership on the CBC transition is critical. As the standards-setting and quality assurance body for higher education, the CUE must take immediate steps to convene a national dialogue focused on the CBC’s integration into university life. It must offer clear guidance on what competencies universities should be preparing to receive, how degree programmes need to be restructured, and what new metrics of student success should be adopted. The current vacuum in direction risks pushing institutions into disjointed responses that could confuse students and parents alike.

Public universities, too, must rise to the occasion. Traditionally oriented toward theory-heavy, lecture-based instruction, universities must now begin aligning their teaching approaches with the inquiry-based and student-centered philosophy of CBC. Curricular reform should not be left to individual departments acting in isolation. There is an urgent need for institutional transformation that supports project-based learning, digital integration, interdisciplinary approaches, and critical thinking — all of which lie at the heart of CBC. If this is not done deliberately and collectively, CBC graduates will enter a system that does not reflect or respect the kind of learning they have known, leading to disenchantment, poor performance, and even dropout.

Already, there are worrying signs. University curricula remain largely untouched by CBC considerations, creating a looming threat of academic misalignment. Questions about how students will be admitted — given the phasing out of the traditional KCSE structure — remain largely unanswered. Meanwhile, schools of education in universities are still training teachers using frameworks designed for the 8-4-4 system. This contradiction undermines the very foundation of the CBC rollout. Equally troubling is the lack of sustained public communication, which has left many parents and students confused about what to expect at the university level.

To avoid a crisis, urgent steps must be taken. The Ministry of Education should establish a national transition taskforce that brings together all critical stakeholders, including the CUE, public universities, BoMs, curriculum developers, and education experts. This body should produce a clear roadmap that outlines how CBC learners will transition to university and what structural changes are required within institutions to support them. University lecturers, especially in teacher-training programmes, need to undergo intensive retraining to align their pedagogy with the new philosophy of learning. Simultaneously, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) must develop platforms to provide timely and accurate information to the public.

Kenya’s education system has always demonstrated resilience and adaptability in moments of reform. However, resilience alone is not a substitute for strategic planning and institutional alignment. This transition calls for a new kind of leadership — one that is responsive, collaborative, and willing to think beyond institutional silos.

As someone who has spent years studying and working in the field of education policy and leadership, I am convinced that Kenya has the talent and the tools to make this transition a success. What is needed now is clarity of direction, unity of purpose, and the political will to see it through. The future of an entire generation depends on it.

Professor at The Technical University of Kenya. [email protected]

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