- While the intended benefits of the merger—such as eliminating funtional overlaps and improving regulatory efficiency—appear well-intentioned, a closer examination reveals potential risks that could undermine the quality, credibility, and oversight of Kenya’s education system.
- As a higher education expert, I argue that merging TVETA, CUE and KNQA into a single entity is not only ill-advised but also retrogressive.
- A well-regulated education sector is key to national development, and any restructuring efforts should prioritize preserving the quality and integrity of education over bureaucratic consolidation.
Earlier this year, the government, through the Cabinet, approved a series of reforms targeting 271 State Corporations, aiming to enhance efficiency, curb excesses, and eliminate redundancy. As part of these reforms, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA), the Commission for University Education (CUE), and the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) have been earmarked for merger into a single entity under the Ministry of Education, overseeing Kenya’s education sector, a move that is purportedly aligned with the government’s broader objective of reducing duplication, streamlining operations, and optimizing resource use within state institutions.
While the intended benefits of the merger—such as eliminating funtional overlaps and improving regulatory efficiency—appear well-intentioned, a closer examination reveals potential risks that could undermine the quality, credibility, and oversight of Kenya’s education system. The proposal threatens to reverse hard-won gains in higher education regulation, vocational training development, and national qualifications framework implementation.
Unique Roles of TVETA, CUE and KNQA
TVETA serves as the primary regulatory body overseeing TVET institutions, a function enshrined in Section 7 of the TVETA Act. The Authority is responsible for licensing, registering, and accrediting TVET institutions and programs, ensuring compliance with established quality and relevance standards. This regulatory oversight ensures that institutions adhere to approved curricula, maintain appropriate infrastructure, and meet the required teaching standards.
To-date, TVETA has inspected and accredited over 2,368 TVET institutions and assessed over 10,000 trainer applications, granting accreditation to over 7,000 trainers, assessors, and verifiers. In addition, 22 foreign examining bodies have been accredited under the TVET Act, ensuring that international standards align with Kenya’s vocational training framework. TVETA is thus too vital to be dissolved or merged.
CUE, on the other hand, plays a pivotal role in ensuring the integrity and quality of higher education in Kenya. As the regulatory body overseeing universities, CUE is responsible for program and institutional accreditation, quality assurance, and compliance, ensuring that Kenyan universities maintain global competitiveness and produce graduates equipped for the job market and research excellence.
Kenya currently has 79 fully-fledged universities in number and counting. With a total student population of over 600,000 in our universities, and over 10,000 academic programs, each to be accredited after every cohort, CUE cannot be done away with nor merged.
Kenya’s education sector is structured to ensure quality and relevance at different levels of learning. The KNQA plays a crucial role in maintaining education and training standards by developing and maintaining the Kenya National Qualifications Framework (KNQF). Unlike TVETA and CUE, which regulate technical institutions and universities respectively, KNQA’s mandate is national and policy-driven, ensuring standardization, recognition, and comparability of academic and professional qualifications across the education spectrum.
In the light of the current rampant runaway issues of the fake certificates, the existence of degree conferring predatory briefcase universities, and the need for rigorous quality assurance, Kenya cannot afford to merge KNQA with any other entity, let alone scrapping it. This would indeed mess up Kenya’s certification system.
The Risks of Merger and Argument
As a higher education expert, I argue that merging TVETA, CUE and KNQA into a single entity is not only ill-advised but also retrogressive. These three institutions serve distinct, specialized functions within Kenya’s education system, and merging them would undermine their effectiveness, disrupt ongoing reforms, and set back the progress the country has made in aligning with global best practices.
There is no overlap in the mandates of these three agencies. TVETA regulates technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, ensuring competency-based training aligns with industry and job market needs. CUE oversees accreditation, quality assurance, and compliance in universities, maintaining global competitiveness. KNQA, on the other hand, focuses on national qualifications policy, ensuring standardization, recognition, and comparability of academic and professional qualifications across all levels of education. Each agency’s role is distinct and necessary for a well-functioning education system.
Kenya has already tried and failed with a centralized model. The Commission for Higher Education (CHE) previously oversaw universities, TVET institutions and qualifications recognition. This proved ineffective, leading to the establishment of CUE as an independent regulator for universities. Attempting to reverse this decision is a step backward that risks reinstating past dysfunctionalities.
Internationally, separate regulatory bodies for TVET and university education are the norm. In Tanzania, the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) regulates universities, while the National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NACTVET) oversees TVET institutions. South Africa has the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for universities and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) for vocational training. Advanced economies like Australia, Germany, and South Korea also maintain distinct regulatory entities. Kenya had set the pace in the region by following this best practice—dismantling this structure raises the question: Who is our benchmark now?
KNQA’s mandate cuts across all education levels, ensuring a seamless qualifications framework and lifelong learning. It does not fit under either TVET or university education. Its growth and influence have become an envy in Africa, and similar institutions in South Africa and other developed nations operate independently. Subsuming KNQA under another entity would weaken its effectiveness and limit its reach.
The proposed merger contradicts the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) report of June 2023. The task force did not propose merging TVETA, CUE, and KNQA. Instead, it recommended rationalization to enhance efficiency without dismantling well-functioning institutions. The Universities Bill 2024 had already been finalized with a clear mandate for CUE, aligning with these recommendations. The proposed merger disrupts this progress and forces stakeholders back to the drawing board.
The proposed merger comes at a time when TVETA and CUE should be focusing on implementing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for graduates in 2029. Instead, they will be forced to divert time and resources to restructuring, developing new mandates, and redefining human resource policies. This unnecessary bureaucracy will slow down essential preparations for CBC implementation, creating a crisis in Kenya’s education system.
Education regulation requires specialized oversight. TVET institutions need close industry linkages, while universities must uphold academic excellence. Combining regulatory bodies will blur these distinctions, weakening their respective strengths. The best practice is to have two distinct regulators—one for TVET and another for universities—while KNQA coordinates qualifications across all sectors.
Rather than a merger, the government should pursue rationalization to eliminate redundancies and enhance efficiency. If any institution is overstaffed or underperforming, targeted reforms should be implemented rather than dismantling well-functioning entities. Areas of potential conflict should be resolved by assigning them to the most suitable agency, as the Presidential Task Force had recommended.
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Unsolicited Advice
While the Kenya government’s intention to enhance efficiency in state corporations is commendable, merging the education sector regulators TVETA, CUE, and KNQA is a disastrous miscalculation and an extremely wrong move that should be overturned without a second thought. Any projected fiscal savings in this move will be overshot by the cost of structural damages and confusion that will reign thereafter. Kenya must guard its education standards by maintaining specialized regulatory bodies that cater to the unique needs of TVET institutions, universities, and national qualifications policy. A well-regulated education sector is key to national development, and any restructuring efforts should prioritize preserving the quality and integrity of education over bureaucratic consolidation.
