- The evolution of appointment and promotion criteria for academic staff in Kenya’s universities were shaped by efforts to enhance academic standards and fairness.
- As an expert in university education, I can herein caution that the absence of universal criteria opens the door for potential abuses.
- In light of the complexities and discrepancies surrounding academic appointments and promotions, the need for a harmonised criterion has never been more pressing.
The appointment and promotion of staff in universities play a pivotal role in motivating faculty and shaping the quality of higher education.
These processes are not merely administrative but fundamental to sustaining an environment of excellence, attracting and retaining talent, and ensuring that faculty members contribute meaningfully to teaching, research, and community service.
Appointment and promotion criteria for academic staff are crucial in a university setup as they ensure that faculty members are selected and advanced based on their qualifications, teaching effectiveness, research contributions, and commitment to institution’s goals.
These standards help cultivate an environment of excellence, motivating staff to pursue innovation, publish impactful research, and contribute meaningfully to student learning and community development.
Clear, merit-based criteria provide transparency, ensuring fairness and integrity in faculty advancement, which strengthens the university’s reputation and aligns it with both national and international educational standards.
In Kenyan universities, the academic staff appointment and promotion criteria span a range of positions that reflect increasing levels of expertise, responsibility, and contribution to academia.
Starting with Graduate Assistant (GA) roles for recent bachelor’s graduates, faculty can progress to positions such as Tutorial Fellow (TF), Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and ultimately Professor, each with its own specific requirements.
GAs and TFs are usually training positions. Lecturers typically need a PhD and some teaching experience, same with Senior Lecturers, while Associate Professors and Professors must demonstrate significant research output, publication in reputable journals, and a record of academic leadership and mentorship through supervision.
These criteria are designed to ensure that individuals not only possess advanced academic qualifications but also contribute to knowledge creation, teaching quality, and community impact.
Before the introduction and implementation of the Harmonised Criteria for Appointment and Promotion of Academic Staff, Kenya’s university sector faced significant inconsistencies.
Each institution operated its own standards, with varying criteria for academic appointments and promotions, creating a lack of uniformity and leaving decisions largely to university management discretion.
During the pre-harmonised criteria era, this disparity was particularly evident between private and public universities, as academic staff from private institutions often faced demotions when transitioning to public universities because their criteria had lower thresholds.
This was despite the university sector being governed by one act of parliament, the Universities Act of 2012. At the time, qualities and qualifications of academic staff differed significantly from one university to the other.
This is the time we heard of terms like ‘Nyayo Professors’ –referring to those who got promotions without pre-requisite qualifications during the late president Daniel Moi’s era, when there were allegations of promotions based on political connections rather than merit.
The evolution of appointment and promotion criteria for academic staff in Kenya’s universities were shaped by efforts to enhance academic standards and fairness.
In 2014, the Commission for University Education (CUE) introduced harmonised criteria that created a standardised framework that ensured fairness and maintained quality of faculty across institutions.
These criteria outlined specific requirements for each academic rank, focusing on qualifications, teaching experience, and research productivity to ensure merit-based advancement.
Although staff complained about the high bar set by the criteria, most academic staff can attest that there was order, uniformity and similar standards across universities, private and public alike.
A professor promoted using the harmonised criteria was universal and could fit in any university in Kenya.
However, in 2021, Kenya being the litigious nation that it is, harmonised appointment and promotions framework faced a legal setback when the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) lodged a case against it.
This led to the criteria being quashed by the law court, citing a lack of public participation in its formulation. The court ruling highlighted the importance of stakeholder involvement in educational policies, necessitating a more consultative approach to policy-making.
With this historic but negative judgment, universities were left confused without a career progression criteria. It was a case of back to factory settings of pre-harmonised criteria era, where universities would use their own internally crafted standards.
Although formulations of appointments and promotions criteria is now loosely guided by the CUE Universities Standards and Guidelines 2014, providing the basis for individual universities to tailor own guides, there are as many such criteria as there are universities in Kenya.
As an expert in university education, I can herein caution that the absence of universal criteria opens the door for potential abuses.
Already, there are cases emerging of university management promoting themselves to professorial ranks without adhering to basic requirements or external verification, in acts that are tantamount to conflict of interest.
This localised approach risks undermining the integrity and credibility of academic appointments in Kenya’s higher education sector.
A framework should address the unique qualifications and training pathways of medical doctors and engineers, establishing clear guidelines that uphold the credibility of academic ranks while respecting the rigour of these professions.
Many medical professors hold only an MBChB and a Master’s degree. They contend that their comprehensive 6-year bachelor’s degree, serves as both an undergraduate and a conventional master’s, and that their advanced three-year master’s training, should be recognised as equivalent to a PhD.
However, this difference in qualifications means that medical professors often lack the required PhD to supervise doctoral candidates, which paradoxically undermine their academic standing in universities.
This issue is further complicated by engineers, who claim their five-year bachelor’s training makes them equivalent to master’s holders, positioning them similarly in the push for promotion criteria adjustments.
To sidestep this dilemma, some engineering faculty have pursued PhDs in unrelated but softer fields like divinity and religious studies, solely to qualify for senior academic ranks, a practice that raises concerns about the integrity of academic standards.
The confusion extends to whether bachelor-level degrees in fields like Clinical Medicine or Pharmacy should bear the title “Doctor,” further blurring professional and academic titles.
In my earlier encounter as a Vice-Chancellor of a university that had a medical school, I found it difficult to address promotions requests of medics who were teaching in the school for the simple reason that the criteria could not be applied to them effectively for career progression.
Not even CUE could help me to navigate out of the mucky waters under the now-defunct harmonised criteria. This situation left many similar institutions without clear guidance on addressing these specialised cases. The situation persists to-date.
In light of the complexities and discrepancies surrounding academic appointments and promotions, the need for a harmonised criterion has never been more pressing.
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Reintroducing a harmonised and standardised framework, developed through a transparent and participatory process, would restore fairness and consistency across Kenya’s universities, ensuring that academic achievements are objectively recognised.
If you ask me, with regard to reintroducing a harmonised framework, the onus is squarely on CUE. By adopting a transparent and inclusive process, involving stakeholders such as university management, faculty unions, and professional bodies, CUE can restore order and confidence in academic appointments and promotions.
All these intricacies highlight the urgent need for a revised harmonised criteria. Otherwise, those with title “Professor” will continue to exponentially increase, with nothing to show for it.
