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{
    "id": 571669,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/571669/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
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    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I have visited quite a number of countries in this world. If you visit Canada, you will find Edmonton, Alberta and Calgary universities to the West of Canada. They specialize more on their natural resource, which is, oil. You will be surprised to note that most of the graduates coming from those universities are trained to deal with the oil industry; that is, oil mining and refining. The labour itself in Canada, when it comes to oil drilling and other associated works, comes from universities which are located in areas where we have such resource. We can do the same there in Kenya. We have universities located in some areas which have minerals in abundance. Now that we recently discovered oil in Turkana, we need to have an industry and university in that region, so that students can study mining and other oil industry related studies. This will be very useful when it comes to full scale production of oil. Short of that, we will be held hostage like what has happened to many other countries in the Arab world. Many people in those counties do not even know how oil is drilled. As a result of that, the west will always exploit the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) market. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is important to note that we need these universities. We should have them all over the country instead of concentrating them in Nairobi. Nairobi has more than 20 universities. We should make sure that they are distributed all over the country. For instance, we can have some in the coast region dealing with marine technology or anything associate with marine sciences. In addition, we can have some in the highlands dealing with agricultural production, research and so on. Those in the lake region can concentrate in lacustrine fishing or industries. That is the spirit of the Bill. Madam Temporary Speaker, on infrastructure, we have had quite a number of students suffering in this country. They go to universities to study, but due to inadequate infrastructure, their time is wasted. Some boards do not recognise students coming from such universities because of poor accreditation process. We are asking the Ministry or the university council to make sure that before a university is started, proper and enough infrastructures are put in place. Those universities sometimes offer courses that are not recognised by various boards. The courses taught there should be commensurate to the requirements of the demand in the country. When that happens, we will regulate courses. Such regulation can be done by the CUE. They should be given more powers to scrutinize and close universities which exist just by the name. Madam Temporary Speaker, we are also getting a bit concerned when university students cannot speak or write in proper English. We are asking whether that is what is happening in the universities. We should come up with a minimum set grade as to who qualifies to join a university. It is not every other person who sits for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) who qualifies to join university. We should have a minimum entry grade. In Kenya, for example, we have set C+ as the minimum grade. However, these days many students join Module II. It appears like commercial learning goes on in the university. This is to the detriment of majority of the students The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}