The Head of State issued the directive on Friday to allow the education sector focus on strengthening the existing institutions as well as provide more technical and vocational training.
Speaking at State House while awarding charters to eight new universities, Mr Kenyatta maintained the government needed to give more emphasis on improving the quality of existing universities as opposed to their quantity.
“Our focus now must be strengthening the institutions that we have; building their resilience and ensuring sustained quality,” stated the Head of State.
He reiterated of the need to upgrade the institutions to equip graduates with necessary skills to help meet objectives of Vision 2030.
“These institutions have to be globally competitive in their operations and service delivery. Quantity at the expense of quality has a potential to harm our country,” he asserted.
He further urged the learning institutions to step up and tap into knowledge and innovation to meet the expectations Kenyans have of institutions of higher learning.
During the forum, the Head of State awarded the charters to Murang’a University of Technology (Murang’a), University of Embu (Embu), Machakos University (Machakos) andKirinyaga University (Kirinyaga).
The others included KAG East University in Kajiado County, Rongo University (Migori), theCooperative University of Kenya (Nairobi) and Taita Taveta University in Taita-Taveta County.
