Dr. Awiti is the director of the East African Institute and assistant professor at Aga Khan University
Convergence is emerging in discussions about the future of higher education in the global south. There is growing worry that the south is not training sufficient numbers of university graduates in subjects and fields, such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), that are critical to driving a 21st century economy.
While serving as Kenya’s minister for higher education, William Ruto declared that the government would withdraw funding for social sciences and humanities subjects in public universities.
Similarly, education officials in Tanzania have expressed the need to orient tertiary training to technology-based fields. Parents are also getting sucked into this wrongheaded narrowing of education to meet vocational goals.
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